We often close ourselves off when traumatic events happen in our lives;
instead of letting the world soften us, we let it drive us deeper into
ourselves. We try to deflect the hurt and pain by pretending it doesn't
exist, but although we can try this all we want, in the end, we can't
hide from ourselves. We need to learn to open our hearts to the potentials
of life and let the world soften us.
Whenever we start to let our fears and seriousness get the best of us, we
should take a step back and re-evaluate our behavior. The items listed below
are six ways you can open your heart more fully and completely.
Whenever a painful situation arises in your life, try to embrace it instead
of running away or trying to mask the hurt. When the sadness strikes, take
a deep breath and lean into it. When we run away from sadness that's unfolding
in our lives, it gets stronger and more real. We take an emotion that's fleeting
and make it a solid event, instead of something that passes through us.
We all know what that twinge of anxiety feels like. We know how fear feels
in our bodies: the tension in our necks, the tightness in our stomachs, etc.
We can practice leaning into these feelings of discomfort and let them show
us where we need to go.
The initial impulse is to run away-to try and suppress these feelings by not
acknowledging them.