Heart as a metaphor for the emotional part of us.

Our hearts deal with a lot – from trauma that hasn’t been dealt with, to internalized critics and lack of (self)love. Perhaps well-meaning but inadequate loving throughout childhood or hurt from past or current relationships. A wounded heart (which nearly all of us have to some degree) can cause us to hold up barriers to love or genuine connection. It can inadvertently keep at bay that which we actually want to most.

When we are unloving towards ourselves, we tend not to let ourselves have that which we truly desire. We’re hard on ourselves, and as a natural result, often harder than we’d like to be on others as well. Things that ‘should’ feel good, warm, and healthy can often feel scary or too good to be true. We may develop unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with what we are afraid to feel.

The good news is that hearts can be healed. With warmth, empathy, love, and presence, as well as curiosity and a willingness to understand, we can look at the root causes of any pain that might be there, find healing, and fill the heart with genuine (self) love and care. Our emotional well-being can be balanced, nourished, and fulfilled. There are many, many techniques, exercises, and methods that are wonderful for this – but often one of the most powerful and needed ones is simply kindness, presence, and care. 

When our hearts are full and ‘whole’, it changes everything about us for the better. We carry ourselves differently. We treat others differently. We think more positively about ourselves. We believe in our own capability and worthiness and actually allow ourselves to go for and receive whatever it is that we might want. We become warmer and more loving – inside and out. This new energy shines through and has a tendency to positively change the way you are perceived by the outer world, possibly inviting in wonderful new opportunities and encounters. Most of all: it will make your world so much sweeter.

Our minds and our thought patterns play an enormous part in our sense of well-being, our self-esteem, our sense of worth, our relationships, our career, our physical health, and literally every other area of our lives.

It is such an underused and undervalued tool. We often feel as though we are at the mercy of our minds; that we are simply trapped in a certain way of thinking or can’t do anything about it. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

It is more than possible to alter your mental programming; uprooting unhelpful beliefs and patterns, finding their origins, and healing them, while planting the seeds for the new. You can learn to, quite literally, change your mind. And once you learn to do that, everything in your experience will begin to change.

Working to elevate your mindset is an individual, tailor-made process. It involves “pulling out the weeds” of the past, becoming conscious of the mental processes that have been running the show thus far, and consciously deciding on what is desired and where to point your focus.

Depending on your situation, it can involve learning to relax better, learning to literally change and influence your brain waves, learning to find the root cause of negative thoughts, as well as finding out what it is that you do want, and how you can practice the art of positive focus, visualization, affirmations and more to put yourself on that path.

When used correctly, your mind can become your biggest aid, helping you to go wherever you want to go and transforming both your inner and your outer world.