Week 1: Heart and Soul
Connecting to your heart:
Last year, I realized that with everything that has occurred since 2019, I was emotionally disconnected. The daily pummeling of information on every topic imaginable was an onslaught that called for constant emotional management. Empathy and compassion became a commodity along with attention, which was used as currency to signal performing socially defined correct forms of gender, sex, race, class, and politics. We were supposed to know about everything and respond correctly to that knowledge as judged by an ever-evolving global jury.
Energy needed to provide emotional care to our global and local communities, as well as to our immediate social groups, including our families, friends, and co-workers, left little space to care for our own emotional needs. This external focus, combined with our individual coping mechanisms, was often activated by what we were consuming and our lived experience. The result of this could lead to avoidance, suppression, deflection, and disconnection from what is believed to be the cause of the activation.
Perhaps we intellectualize the issues, letting our minds lead the way to decrease the emotional work. Or maybe we become the helper and activist. The person who is always available for emotional labor. We may also find that when we are emotionally available, we experience physical sensations that make us more aware of what is occurring. Disconnecting from the body as a form of controlling one’s emotions may be the route some of us take.
Yet, when we break ourselves into these different aspects of a whole, we lose the ability to be fully present. Our emotions, physical forms, thoughts, and spirit are all worthy of being recognized. This week, we focus on our emotions through connecting with our heart or heart spaces.
When is the last time you connected with your heart? We get so busy being productive and reaching for that next goal, yet our hearts and emotions are often last on the list. How often do you hear that, though, and think to yourself, “What does connecting to my heart even mean?”
Let me share a secret with you, you connect to your heart all the time. Whenever you laugh from your gut unapologetically, sing at the top of your lungs, dance passionately, read a great book, or do anything that brings you joy, you are connecting with your heart.
Your heart holds one part of the sacred energy of your being. In connection with your root, will, voice, spirit, and most high self, the heart brings forth your internal light, which makes the world come alive. Your heart energy also leads you to journey through the darkness when that light has dimmed. Our hearts are a primary part of our strength.
Look out for a wonderful way to connect to your heart tomorrow.
-Kamilah Rose