Mindful Moment #43 - Loving the Curveballs

How to Love a Curveball

How do we stay mindful when the wild, wild world we live in keeps throwing us curveballs? I’m over here busy ducking and jumping or swinging and missing. I mean, don’t get me wrong, sometimes I get a base hit, maybe even a double or sometimes a triple. But the home run is what I am looking for. How do I get a home run when the sky is falling?

Okay, so maybe the literal sky isn’t literally falling. And maybe THAT’S what mindfulness can help us realize. If we strive toexist in a calmer state of mind, to recognize that we are not powerless, and to be awakened to our potential, hyperbolic panic can’t take us out of the present anymore. That’s why we have to practice it. I like to think of it as something I am in training for as a way to approach the day. I set the goal and intentionally try to keep it in mind. It’s still difficult to stand squarely in the present when there are things like bills to pay next week. There are deadlines to meet and appointments to keep. Plus, there are positive, hopeful things like dreams to work toward. There are aspirations to chase, vacations to plan, people to meet, places to go, fences to swing for, and bases to steal.

Just like any training, we have to warm up first. We need to shake off the dust and start stretching ourselves. Mindfulness asks us to be present in the here and now. There is an advantage to being able to embrace this moment and experience it with objectivity, focus, and acceptance. Peace can be conjured by holding our attention on what is within reach. By uncluttering the mind of our various lists and wants and worries, we can be empowered to recenter and relax. With a quieted mind, we can make better decisions, see with an enlightened perspective, walk a less encumbered path, and find inner joy. With a quieted mind, we can face the roar of a crowd or even our own little niggling thoughts, and focus on that pitch the universe has thrown our way.

For the past few weeks, I have been writing about how you can focus your attention to unblock or strengthen your energy at each chakra point. So far, I have mentioned the root chakra, the sacral chakra, and the solar plexus chakra. Next in line is the heart chakra. How do we stretch our “heart strings” in such a way that we can be grounded and focused and also experience the love centered in that chakra? This central chakra is our energy center, our primary connector with other people, and how we give and receive love to and from the universe. When it’s rusty from disuse or blocked by pain, we need to exercise it to get it spinning again. Without it, we are going to keep ourselves from enjoying life, from feeling that vigor of excitement around the possibilities of our success, and from experiencing the healing wholeness of love.

Let’s try to meditate with the intention of release and recovery, today.

Please find a comfortable place to sit. If you’d like to listen to something, the frequency 639hz is recommended for the heart chakra. Green is the color associated with this chakra, so you may want to light a green candle if you have one, or wear something green, or simply imagine it.

Drop your shoulders, close your eyes, and soften your face. Breathe deeply, hold, and release. Repeat at least four times. Continue to breathe deeply while you focus on your heart at the sternum area of your chest.

Are there any feelings of hurt here? Are there any feelings of loss or lack? These feelings can be associated with a romantic relationship that has ended or was unrequited or was abusive. Also, unhealed or lost familial relationships might be a factor at play, as well. Acknowledge the pain. Envision this pain as a scratchy ball of yarn that has been sitting in your chest. It has been there for far too long. Now, watch as it begins leaving your heart like a ball of yarn that has fallen off of a shelf. It beginsrolling away from you. As it rolls away, you can feel all of the negative emotions being pulled away from your heart. It’s headed off down a hill, growing smaller and more insignificant, until it is finally nothing but a long, long string. It has no weight. It is totally gone from you.

Imagine the space in your heart now. It feels lighter and freer. You do not have to carry the weight of that pain anymore. It is easier to breathe. Inhale deeply, filling that empty space withyour breath. It is open to fill with love now. You can fill it with love for yourself by saying (and embracing) the following affirmations:

My heart is full of love, peace, and thankfulness.

I am surrounded by love.

I am worthy of love.

Love comes to me freely from the universe.

There are no conditions for the love I have for myself.

My love is deep and wide.

Allow the love to fill up your heart. Sit with this feeling of a full heart. Commit to memory how it feels for your heart to be full of love again. Now that you have replaced the pain with love, you have more to give to those whom you’d like to share it with. Extend gratitude to the universe. Repeat this exercise as necessary to heal your heart chakra.

Keep training for those curveballs, friends. Someday soon, we’ll be hitting home runs!

As always, namaste.

Amy

INSPIRATIONS THIS WEEK

We’re feeling inspired by these incredible and thought provoking pieces:

Feeding dogs certain table scraps could help health, but processed kibble may not,study says
Adding table scraps and some raw meat to your dog’s diet could help them avoid
gastrointestinal issues as they age, new research suggests.
Quantum breakthrough could revolutionize computing
Researchers have transferred ‘quantum’ information between computer chips at
record speeds and accuracy.
Music & The Psychology Of Choice
User experiences are evolving. The era of extreme personalization is here. For this, we
can thank the cross-pollination of consumer psychology and data science.

That’s all for today, y’all – remember, taking time to focus on you is an act of love.

We hope you found this helpful – don’t hesitate to reply with any feedback on how we can improve future Mindful Moments! We can’t wait to hear from you.