Life can be unpredictable. Life can be hard. There may have been times in your life where it feels like you have lost love for yourself, and even for others. This loss of love can be the result of circumstances out of your control or painful. Even when pain is emotional, it can sometimes manifest as physical pain or ailments in the body.
Opening the mind/body channels within yourself and allowing your loving energies to flow within you, especially during these times, can lead to a healthier and more fulfilling life.
Table of Contents
The Heart’s Place in Love
Although it appears that the home of loving feelings reside within and around the chambers of an organ we call the heart — which churns and massages every cell in our body, leading all to cycle on a continuous path of endless love — we choose to designate the heart as a sacred place for the strongest emotion. The absoluteness of this emotion we call love is undefinable and essentially boundless, without beginning or end.
The Brain’s Place in Love
Love is without form, just like the mind. It appears that the mind resides in the organ we call the brain, which contains 100 billion neurons that govern all of our body functions to form memories, secret neurochemicals, and send impulses to the heart. The mind, however, is formless as it carries our thoughts in virtually every direction, in and outside of every cell and bit of matter, and it can seemingly steer you away from love. But it never truly pulls you from it.
Roadblocks to Love
People have the ability to love, but they are often thrown off balance by a disturbance of the mental process. These roadblocks can be caused by things such as stress due to loss, mental or physical abuse, depression, rejection, or a marital or relationship breakup.
Each of these examples can have severe implications for your well being and can even cause virtual “heartbreak.” And this heartbreak can lead to health issues. In fact, research shows that pain from heartbreaks can manifest in similar ways as physical pain.
One study tested individuals who recently went through a breakup experience. Researchers showed participants photos of their loved ones and subsequently measured their brain activity. Interestingly, these participants showed brain activity similar to that which occurs when one experiences physical pain. These findings led researchers to conclude that rejection, and emotional and physical pain are all processed in the same regions of the brain.
But rest assured this heartbreak is not insurmountable. If you or someone you know has suffered as a result of these types of roadblocks, there is always a way to find the seemingly “lost love” for oneself and others. That way is through self-awareness.
“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”
— Oscar Wilde
Gaining Self-Awareness
Because health is your greatest wealth, and many people don’t pay enough attention to things until problems arise, self-awareness is key to keeping both your heart and your physical self healthy and happy.
Granted, this can be easier said than done, especially during these major roadblocks in life, but you have the strength and ability within your being to do this. Self-awareness is all about finding love within yourself that can emerge beyond the “borders” of the skin.
To begin to be self-aware, you must be willing to accept that:
- Love is truth
- All of nature is an expression of love
- Love remains a mystery to science
- Love and hate are not opposite
- Self-love is key to health
- Love is infinite and part of everything
- Nothing can take love away
To cultivate self-awareness, you need to have mindfulness. Mindfulness is the key to overcoming suffering and recognizing natural wisdom — both our own and others’.
An exercise that can help you to become more self-aware is “mindful meditation.”
Mindful Meditation
Mindfulness can be nurtured through meditation, just as it is done in the Buddhist tradition. There are many different kinds of meditation. Some types of meditation are designed to help us relax, and others are meant to produce altered states of consciousness. However, mindful meditation is unique in that it is designed to help us become more unconditionally present. This means we are present with whatever is currently happening in our lives, no matter what it is.
Because it allows us to be more present in our own lives, it gives us glimpses of our inherent wisdom. It teaches us how to stop perpetuating the unnecessary suffering that results from trying to escape the discomfort, and even pain, we are experiencing in our lives. When we are mindful, we show up for our lives.
This mindfulness can awaken and nurture that love you have always had, even if you feel like you lost it along the way. Practicing this type of meditation exercise can reap the following benefits to your body to help keep you whole and content with your life:
- Body relaxation
- Focus and clarity in the mind
- Detoxification of negative energy
- Centering
- Opening blocked channels
You should take a few minutes of each day to mindfully meditate and it takes nothing more than:
- 5-10 minutes (more if you like)
- A comfortable posture
- A comfortable environment, at home or elsewhere
- Focusing on your breathing
- Allowing your body to let go
Doing this type of meditation can literally open a channel to and from the heart, which can be the difference that you have wanted in your life.
Starting A Journey to Love Through Self-Care
All that is present to you, by you and with you, is there from love. And your heart is where you feel the power and passion for living. Now is the time to take care of this magnificent pump that generates the life flow for you.
To start a journey back to becoming the loving and loved person that you are, you need to remember the following:
- Be mindful of your place in the universe.
- Have some recollection of your birth — you were meant to be.
- Know that your heart began just as the brain was forming as your first organs.
- Remember that your mother nurtured you.
- Give gratitude to all of your ancestors, family, and friends.
- Give gratitude to the planet and the food it provides to sustain you.
- Take only the healthiest of nutrition for your body — your heart and other organs should not be fed junk food!
- Exercise well each day and sleep soundly at night.
- Practice mindful meditation often.
- Reconnect with life.
Always remember that you are loved, you matter, and you are worthy!
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