Time to Find: Peace of Heart

Peace of mind-We’ve all heard this phrase.  It means turning off the mental chatter, slamming the door to the wayward run-away thoughts.

You know what I’m talking about.  Who can ignore it what with the frenzied:  shop-till-you-drop, fight to find a mall parking stall, bowel over your neighbor for the last sale- attitudes that the holiday season brings.

The idea of achieving peace of mind in this atmosphere is challenging, if not totally impossible.   The holiday’s can even raise our risk our of having a heart attack. To see what I mean look at this article posted on MSN about rich holiday foods and how they can cause a heart attack: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3034546/.

So why not journey down a different avenue.  Why not look for what I call:  Peace of Heart.  What is peace of heart?  Peace of heart is that place we go to where the heart feels calm and portected.  It’s a soft centered place filled with peace, wisdom, and joy.

Finding peace of heart requres that we begin operating from a place that is beneath the radar of life’s usual hectic pace.  We abandon the mental chatter and hold onto the serentiy that lies within all of us.

So how do we find Peace of Heart?   How do we do this on a practical level?

1.  Move Past Your Mind:

Our minds are wondrous things, but they can lead us astray. We can become possessed by fearful, nagging thoughts. Anyone who has tried to control their thoughts knows how difficult it can be. Much better to not worry about the mind. Instead begin to focus on your heart. Work from the Heart Math Institute (www.heartmath.com) has shown that our hearts contain an innate intelligence. Indeed, 40,000 neurons exist in the heart which is more than some parts of the brain. These neurons have been shown to influence the body, altering our hormones and biochemistry. The intelligence of the heart can have a calming influence on the whole body. It can promote wellness and prevent illness.

2. Touch Your Heart:

When you feel particularly stressed out, just take 30 seconds (it’s not a lot of time) and just place a hand on your chest and touch your heart. The heart lies just to the left of your breast bone. Just this simple act of touching our heart region will have a calming effect.

3. Take a Deep Breath:

As you are touching your heart just take a deep breath in and let the air travel down into the heart area beneath your hand. Repeat this 2-3 times in a slow rhythmic fashion. Let your breath penetrate the heart region. In almost every form of relaxation using our breath plays an integral part. As you touch your heart and breath, you’ll find that more and more calmness is filling you.

4. Be Grateful:

Finally, find something to be grateful about. All of us have a reason to feel gratitude. It could be the fact that we have food to eat or a roof over our heads. It could be the fact that we are still breathing. Whatever your reason’s just find a couple of things to be thankful for in your life. Let the thoughts and feelings of this thankfulness fill your chest. Continue breathing, touching your heart, and feeling thankful.

Hopefully after doing this exercise you’ll be know what it means to have peace of heart. Just by becoming more aware of your heart, breathing, and finding something good to feel you’ll be on your way towards being more calm.

I’d like to know what you think of this exercise. If you read this and have the time give me some feedback about what peace of heart means to you.

December 11th, 2007