Your heart will fix itself. It’s your mind you need to worry about. Your mind where you locked the memories, your mind where you have kept pieces of the ones that hurt you, that still cut through you like shards of glass.
Your mind will keep you up at night, make you cry, destroy you over and over again.
You need to convince your mind that it has to let go...because your heart already knows how to heal.
-Nikita Gill
The heart keeps you grounded physically, mentally, and emotionally while keeping you connected to a higher power spiritually.No matter how you define the heart, it all points to life. Life can be challenging and many times painful to endure. We tend to get caught up in trying to figure out how to heal (on our own) that we forget to look to God for our healing. We seek outwardly for things that take inner work. The downfall to seeking outwardly is being subjected to unjust judgement, crushing injuries, loss of oneself, resentment and confusion.
Seeking the world for answers, blinds us from the work that God is trying to do in our life and it makes us doubt. Believing in God’s power takes the whole heart. True belief in God can allow your heart to be renewed. When your heart is renewed, you see with the eyes of God and experience pure joy.
1 Samuel 16:7 explains that God does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.”
Your spiritual heart is just as important as your physical heart. Without the heart you cannot physically live and without heart you cannot feel alive. The heart is located in the middle of your chest, at your center point. The point where you connect to God and all.
We can easily say that we are waiting on God to move and/or change our situation. Reality is that God is waiting on us to surrender. You have to completely surrender so that healing can work. The heart like the body already knows how to heal. We just never want to feel the ugly of the process. I’m sure a lot people are like me and have an unsettled fear of vulnerability. Whether you expect it or not, people and things will hurt you. There is no avoiding this in life. Handling vulnerability falls in the hands of your perspective and foundation.
Building a foundation for heart work
Check your heart (Four chambers of the heart)
In the book The Four-Fold Way by Angeles Arrien, it advises up to check the conditions of the four chambered heart daily by asking ourselves: “Am I full-hearted, open-hearted, clear-hearted, and strong-hearted?”
1. Full-hearted
When you do something that you really don’t want to do, this causes your actions to be half-hearted. You should be more conscious of your intention and position in the matter. If there is any doubt or resentment, you are not full-hearted in your actions.
2. Open-hearted
When you are not open-hearted, you resist and avoid things. The fear of vulnerability can cause this. By resisting, you shut yourself off from experiencing real love, fulfillment, and joy.
3. Clear-hearted
Where there is confusion and lack of trust, dysfunctional clouds your heart. Just like you need to clear your mind, you must clear your heart too. It is not best to make decisions when your heart is not clear. You should pray and wait for clarity before making any moves.
4. Strong-hearted
When you are not strong-hearted, you lose your identity because you lack the courage to be authentic. Being strong-hearted allows you to be able to define what has heart and meaning to you.
Guard your heart (Take responsibility for your feelings)
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it
- Proverbs 4:23
One way of protecting your heart (physically and spiritually) is by looking after your mental health. Watching what you take into your mind. What you read, listen to and see will eventually make its way into your spiritual and emotional heart.
Don’t expect your love from others. Meaning, all people do not express love the same. Everyone’s love language is different and many times we impose our preferred love language on others and it ends up causing conflict. In order to see people differently, you must learn to look beyond your feelings and truly know who you are in your heart. A lot of hurt we feel from people is hurt we inflicted onto ourselves. You can avoid a lot of unnecessary pain when your heart is clear.
Finally, you should set healthy boundaries in all areas of your life so that you can make the best decision for yourself and develop self-discipline. For this area a great read is Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend.
Connect your heart
God provide resources and pure love. When you connect to God, he will show you how to love yourself so that you will know how to love others. Reset and connection is a daily task because you must filter out the emotions and thoughts from the previous day. When something doesn’t come nature, you have to be persistence in your pursuit of it. God is the heart and you must desire a relationship with him in order to receive what your heart needs. Perfection is not expected but effort is required. In the process of trusting God, birth is given to joy and peace. Remember Psalm 34:18 when it gets difficult.
If you don’t know where to start, read Philippians 4:6-7, pray (converse with God) and meditate on the meaning of the scripture. As long as your heart is beating, you have a chance to start anew each day. Healing is learning to trust life no matter where it takes you.
Comments