5 Ways to Live From the Heart

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Living from the heart seems like a pretty simple concept. Just be nice to people, show compassion and get on with it, right? While that is certainly a start, it is only the beginning of the journey from truly living from a place of love and kindness.

Cultivating compassion is a path of happiness and self-awareness. It might not be an easy path all the time, because it takes effort to not get angry at someone for spilling coffee on your when you’ve had a tough morning. However with time, choosing compassion becomes second nature. You start thinking more kindly, negative self-talk begins to lessen, and a spirit of goodness overcomes you. Only then do you realize you have started living from the heart.

Here are the ways you can begin to actively choose love, kindness and compassion each day. It starts with loving yourself and ends with sharing warm-heartedness with the world. Take these tips and begin living from the heart today.

Finding Happiness in a Hectic World

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More than ever in modern history, we are now “on” all the time, running as fast as we can to keep up with everyone else. Whether fielding work emails during our evenings or reading breaking news on our smartphone right before bed, true rest is less and less prevalent. Relaxation is something that we have to schedule, and most of us are not getting enough of it. The ultimate compassion we can show to ourselves is simply beginning to slow down. We have a hard time receiving self-kindness when we are running through life at breaking speeds. The most important thing to remember is that we have to take time to nurture ourselves if we ever want to show love and care to others. By taking time to slow down, we can “catch our breath” both mentally and physically.

Accepting Yourself in All Ways

Living from the heart means loving fully, and that includes loving yourself. We spend so much of our time judging ourselves which only brings us down. We have to learn how to show ourselves compassion, even when we make mistakes. We can do this by rewiring our inner critic to being our inner companion. Your inner critic is simply a part of you that needs more self-love. When you find yourself thinking badly about yourself, actively restructure your thoughts into something compassionate. For example, if you think to yourself “I look horrible in this dress” change your thoughts to say “I appreciate my body for all it has done for me, from carrying my beautiful children and walking me through each day.”

Choosing Compassion in the Face of Negativity

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Empathy is defined as the ability to understand the feelings of another person or being. When we put ourselves into someone else’s shoes, we can begin to show them real compassion. When we look at society today, we are often discouraged by what we see. Don’t be taken aback by what you see in the media. Nowadays it is there job to show the intense, fear-inducing problems of the world. However the truth is that the world can become a better place every day. By all growing in our compassion and empathy toward one another, we can begin to heal as a society. We can begin this process by cultivating compassion within ourselves, modeling compassion and sensitivity to others, and sharing our light and caring with the world around us.

Understanding How to Be Truly Kind

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One of the most important ideas at the heart of compassion is kindness. It is an idea that can spark new positive thoughts that when put into action, can change the world. True kindness comes in infinite forms; being kind to yourself, being kind to others, or showing kindness to animals, plants, and more. Being truly kind means treating people with respect and care, caring for yourself like you would a loved family member, giving your time to causes you care about, and supporting and validating your dreams. Kindness is an attitude towards oneself and others that is considerate, generous of heart and gently caring. Showing warm-heartedness, consideration, compassion and understanding are all part of what kindness truly means. Spend some time each week thinking about how you want to show kindness to others. Put these ideas into action and watch your world brighten a little each day.