To Open Your Heart, Try This Compassion Practice
Let’s get straight to the point: being a human will occasionally cause your heart to burst.
Perhaps you are even in the midst of heartbreak, a difficult moment, or a period of intense transformation and transition right now. Or perhaps everything is fine right now — which is fantastic if that’s the case! Let’s rejoice and enjoy that for a time!
All is OK, though, whether you are experiencing a rock bottom or an even-keeled phase. It’s safe's say that being a human may be really difficult at times. We will all unavoidably experience heartaches due to injustice, trauma, loss, grief, and rage, whether as a result of our deeds or those of others.
As a longtime practitioner of mindfulness and meditation and a meditation teacher who has taught thousands of people worldwide, I can attest to the fact that the aforementioned is accurate — despite how challenging it may be to accept and realize! So, the issue that needs to be answered is: What should I do now? How do I deal with and overcome the heartache and challenges that are an inevitable part of being human?
Let me introduce you to compassion, a millennium-old Buddhist concept, and practice tailored to our exact situation. Compassion is the heart’s desire for all beings, including ourselves, to be free from pain. Consequently, our response is ingrained in compassion. We deal with life’s ups and downs, happiness and sadness, and experiences of love and loss via compassion. Our magical and necessary how is compassion.
How empathy functions
I want to share the fundamental principles of compassion with you before I walk you through one of my go-to spontaneous acts of compassion, which you can use at any time.
For example, our hearts tend to close down as an immediate self-preservation and self-protective response anytime we experience stress, sorrow, or any pain — both mental and emotional anguish, of course. Alternatively, what my friend Libby Carstensen, a grief coach, likes to call “an armor “Ing of our hearts.”
When “this occurs, we are less able to effectively respond to the difficulty and suffering that we are facing. It’s easier for fear and judgment to win. Alternatively, our old, automatic responses to discomfort will take over. such as overworking, overindulging in food, or self-destructing. You know, all those automatic, instinctive self-preservation techniques that, in the end, we all know deep down aren’t aren’t for us. This is where, since our hearts have closed, the natural intelligence of our open hearts is hidden and unavailable to us in the middle of response.
There is an inherent wisdom to compassion. Thus, we strive to reopen our closed, timid, or wounded hearts by actively practicing compassion. One of the bravest and most selfless things you could ever do for yourself in your moment of need, my friend, is this: discover how to apply the healing salve of compassion to your closed, trembling heart and the anguish it brings.
All set? Now, let’s start guested learning how.
A go-to self-compassion exercise to help you heal emotionally
Here is a quick tip for practicing self-compassion. One that is practicable at any time and any place.
Meditation on self-compassion
Whenever you become aware of your heart stopping, put your palm on your heart, pause, and inhale deeply.
Feel the warmth of your hand against your heart as you inhale deeply once more into your heart place.
Repeat these self-compassion mantras aloud in silence:
Greetings,
I’m here, I hear you, and I see you. Feelings like this are OK.
I’m kind to myself. May I give myself tender care?
Give yourself a minute to accept the deep-seated desire to be beside your heart and emotions during this trying time.
You can repeat these mantras for self-compassion as often as necessary.
The best part about this meditation is that you may perform it alone without even having to tell anyone! When I sense other people’s people’s people, like when I’m in I’mlI’m for a matcha tea latte or when I’m at my I’mairport and rushing late for a flight, I immediately practice self-compassion. Without a doubt, I’ve used it. I’ve been in the middle of a conversation or a walk when I’ve received unfavorable news or challenging facts. In the midst of a devastating breakup, I put my hand on my heart and breathed into its rhythm. I’ve let passion letI’ve passion, in the midst of complete turmoil and hopelessness, grip my closed, aching heart.
Additionally, tried-and-true. With its gentle firmness and resiliency, compassion has fostered my heart’s heart and its most challenging emotions until my heart felt whole and healed enough to open out once more. You can accomplish the same, I promise. So, why do you hesitate? To get the feel of it, repeat the self-compassion on-the-spot exercise described above one more time. Then, know that it will support you in every future heartbreak you may experience as a human.
