Train Your HQ Part 2

Welcome to the second installment all about what it means to train your HQ – your Heart Intelligence.

Hello versatile internet community and conscious family!

In the first article of this series I addressed the common habits we have of protecting ourselves, our emotions… our hearts, in defense to the abrasive sense of ridicule, rejection and judgement that we all inevitably experience yet maybe avert to great lengths – even at the cost of our own health.

If we reduce our free sense of expression for the truly magnificent, creative beings that we are, we’re inevitably cutting ourselves off from experiencing many other emotions and opportunities that invigorate life.

Numb yourself to potential rejection or judgement and in turn you numb yourself to shining your creative expression to the world; to receiving potential love; to appreciating all the things you already have; to creating new, vibrant relationships; to deepening existing ones…

Do this long enough and chances are that life begins to feel like it’s stagnating.

Mid-life crisis? NO THANKS!

Let’s whip that heartbeat free like it was a jukebox in a blender!

A Reminder of Values from the Past

VA BOOM!

Like an eight-ton brick come back to lay new foundations and put any worries to bed, we must give credit to ancient practices that still exist widely today and take a serious look at why that is.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) – that thing that started 5,000 years ago, observed life and health at a microscopic level before there were such things as microscopes, and the basis of acupuncture that is now being used in Western hospitals to help treat serious illness such as cancer – yeah, that – founds its medical theory on the principle that the heart (not the brain) is the commander of the body and psyche.

In fact, TCM dubs the heart with the title, “The Emperor”, and essentially every other organ falls under its rule. And hey, kept in check and good standing, it’s quite the compassionate, benevolent ruler!

The Heart Rules the Body and Psyche

Why is this?

Think of it like the governing body of your local town or city, and then think of (and give gratitude for) all the people working jobs that many would not choose to do, but take on the responsibility for the rest of us.

Farmers, delivery drivers, grocers and fresh market vendors; garbagemen, recycling handlers, first-responders, the police that uphold the law, firefighters, construction workers, electricians – Thank You!

And who helps provide or fund these jobs in one way or another? Without getting into politics, it’s an organization of the government.

In the same way, the heart governs the blood, transporting the food, drink (water) and air we take in to every cell of the body through our arterial network, and removing the biological waste that every cell produces from working hard for you while you make your daily choices, carrying it through the veins and lymph system (what helps detoxify your body) to be recycled or removed from the body.

What hardens the heart and reduces its ability to perform in both a physical and emotional/compassionate sense?

Greasy, fatty, fried, sugary, processed, packaged foods – all the convenience that becomes a greater inconvenience down the road. Maybe once in a blue moon so the body has plenty of time and strength to bounce back, yeah, indulging isn’t such a big deal. But I’ll bet you any more frequently and the temporary pleasure isn’t worth the bloating, distention, edema, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, hardened arteries, headaches and worse.

Otherwise, stress – that thing we all know is such the root factor of illness and disease – and perhaps this may be a new one, but worry, are also antagonists to the heart’s ability to pump peacefully and put out as well as receive the loving vibrations that keep us doing and feeling our best.

It’s as simple as this – feel good in your body and you’re likely thinking clearly. Fluid, lucid body and mind invite high spirits to last longer, leaving you with more energy and concentration to help you move through – no, scratch that – move with life more effortlessly.

And hey, when life feels high-spirited and effortless, we can’t help but spread the love of life we feel within to others. That is human nature. Give in. Receive. Listen to your heart, gather up a bit of courage, and ACT on the beneficence that’s calling to you.

Embrace the “AAIEEEE!!!”

So many times I can tell you personally that I’ve either been caught by surprise or foreseen the impending heart-sinks by my choices, and either in that foresight or the 20/20 hindsight, I’ve always come around to a feeling of gratitude for it having happened.

Yes, I am crazy, but that’s beside the point. It matters to experience the heartbreak, the loneliness, the sadness, the burn of embarrassment or anger, because you’re still feeling, and feeling is living.

And if you can do that consciously – recognizing the emotion and sitting in it with a clear mind, avoiding reactionary decisions based off the height of that emotion – you can instead use those emotions like a boost of rocket fuel to plot twist your response into something constructive.

Feeling embarrassed is a great chance to develop a sense of humor – it lightens the heart, which loves to laugh – and you can pick up a great life lesson, which is not to take ourselves so seriously. When we do this we become less inhibited socially and publicly, which gives us more time to intimately be our authentic selves. And if you’ve ever had those glorious, vulnerable moments, you know how blissful they are. The body gets loose, the mind is set free when we allow the soul to express itself.
And that means being in touch with your heart, for all the full-throttled, fun-loving, egregiously-felt yet grand-scheme-grateful emotions that filter through it. The less they’re resisted, the smoother the ride that is life.

Oh-the-woes! There will still be some, but as with anything, with practice, the craft becomes graceful. And that is you, my conscious family of self-discoverers.

Look forward to the following installment of Train Your HQ Part 3 next Friday, in which we’ll drive our Heart Intelligence through landscapes of the growing scientific study of heart math and a more intuitive hands-on experience with guided meditation led by the heart.

In tha name of Funk and all whom are pumped, Grace be to you.