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I’m enamored with the heart these days. Fascinated by how it is so much more than a cardiovascular pump.
Like our eyes, ears, noses, tongues and skin, our hearts are organs of perception. In other words, our hearts can both sense and be sensed.
Amidst the everyday rush of life, it can be easy to miss what the world is communicating to us and what we are communicating to the world. But our hearts have the ability to be ever-so attuned to these subtleties. As Corinne Bailey Rae sings, “The heart speaks in whispers. You’ve got to listen.”
Up until a few years ago, I was wholeheartedly out of practice when it came to listening to my heart. I walked through life largely disconnected from the multitude of nuanced responses I’d experience each day. Feelings would flit across my subconscious like dragonflies skimming a pond, barely making contact. There is more to language than just words. As a trained linguist, this I know. And still, for the longest time, I did not recognize these expressions as whisperings of the heart.
We already know that to keep our bodies healthy, it’s important to exercise the heart, thereby strengthening the cardiac muscle and improving the pump’s efficiency. By that measure, to keep our hearts tender and sensitive, it’s important to exercise our heart’s perception muscle.
We have lost the response of the heart to what is presented to the senses.-James Hillman
Not all change has to be drastic. For me, shifting towards a more heart-centric way of being has been an effort both slow and slight. Lasting change is more sustainable that way.
I exercise my heart’s perception muscle when I practice tuning into my senses. As I’m writing this, I notice that I:
feel the squishy foam that mat my feet are touching as I write.
see the twinkle lights of my art studio dimly illuminating the toys my sons have played with today.
hear wind chimes tinkling on the front porch.
smell the Orange Squeeze Olipop I just finished drinking.
taste the white cheddar popcorn I’m snacking on.
This practice drops me right back into the present. And cultivating deeper levels of sensory awareness will help me to become more perceptive to the whisperings of my own heart.
I am drawn to connect with the sacred nature of life. I want to be someone who exudes lovingkindness wherever I go. Thus, learning to listen to and speak with my heart feels essential. I’m excited to embark on this journey towards heart fluency.
This week, I invite you to play The 5 Senses Game by pick a few moments to pause and notice what you Feel, See, Hear, Smell and Taste. I welcome you to share your observations in the comments.
In All Honesty,
Maris