Living from the Heart

Jeroen

From another topic…

For me, it made me ask whether I had lived enough from the heart. I’ve always been quite into planning and strategizing, living from the mind, and have done very few things that were spontaneous. That means I’ve been very ‘sensible’ and non-impulsive, very safe, but also that I haven’t lived from the heart very much.

I’ve been thinking about what it means to live from the heart, and where I have lived from the heart in my life. Early in my life I loved living from my imagination, every book I read was like a world that would open to me. Later in my life I loved making things, software and ceramics especially. I love the young pear tree that I am growing in the garden.

But is living from the heart just concerned with love, the things that speak to you, that are emotionally meaningful to you? Or is there more, inspiration, enthusiasm?

lobster

I feel this is a healthy direction.

I have a particular affection/attachment (attachments have their higher form) to Metta-Ray or Maitreya, who is into that sort of thing …

Metta 4 All … a sort of spiritual composting …

person

I'm not that familiar with the subject but I hear people talking more about the distinction between happiness and meaning in living a good life. That you can have one without the other.

Just saying it may be an avenue to go down.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-meaning-in-imperfect-world/202011/5-differences-between-happiness-and-meaningfulness

Jeroen

I think you automatically are happy if you do what your heart tells you. For me that means doing the things that I love doing, such as going around the back of the garden to inspect the young pear tree, which is even now growing its first fruits.

Jeroen

I wonder about the role of people in living from the heart.

I was sitting in the train last week, heading back to the town where I now live. And as the train was crossing the wetlands, a nature reserve, I got a sudden flash of my recently deceased uncle Henk, as if he was smiling at me. It made me very happy… the town where I now live is the place where he lived for 50 years.

But on the whole I’m not that good at making intimate connections with people. The few close friendships I have are quite old. My parents are both still alive and I have close connections with them. I’ve lost touch with most of my ex-colleagues.

Jeroen

@lobster said:
I feel this is a healthy direction.

I have a particular affection/attachment (attachments have their higher form) to Metta-Ray or Maitreya, who is into that sort of thing …

Metta 4 All … a sort of spiritual composting …

Yes, thats kind of it. For me its about the things that make you feel joyful, happy, fulfilled inside. The first step is identifying what things made you feel like that in the past, and then seeing how you can bring that into the present.

Lionduck

My hey pennies worth:
Live from the heart:
Love and be true to yourself that you may love and be true to others.

peace to all

Shoshin1

Living from the Heart

Hmm Citta comes to heart-mind...

Jeroen

Often when I had a big decision to make I would take some time to myself and make an effort to listen to what my heart and my intuition told me to do. I would ask myself questions such as:

• What would i hate to have missed in my life?
• If I didn’t take an opportunity, how would I feel about it in 3 years or 5?
• What might life look like in 3 years if I did do it? What might it look like if I didn’t?
• What would make me grow the most?

Jeffrey

Matt Kahn has a story where he discovered the healing power of "the heart" as in not only that pump in our bodies..