3 Practical Steps I follow, when I wake up with a heavy heart.
Today, I woke up with a heavy heart.
And this is for you, for the days you wake up with your heart numb from heartbreak,
or swallowed whole by shame.
This is for you,
for the days you may wake up with your heart throbbing in grief,
or trembling in disbelief.
I only wish that with these 3 practical steps to follow,
they allow you to hold your own heart with gentleness and compassion.
Because right now, that’s really all your heart needs.
It doesn’t need any answers, explanations nor condemnations.
Your heart just needs you to take care of it for now.
Inhale, and exhale.
And this isn’t just any breathing exercise.
What works for me as I breathe, is to be intentional in what I inhale and exhale.
I set my mind to use my inhales to create space in my chest, to make room for what I feel would serve me most that morning.
Example: Today morning, my heart felt heavy and numb.
So my inhales were focused on drawing in lightness, gentleness and strength into my chest because I wanted to be with my heart in these ways.
As for exhales, I use them to slip out what I don’t wish to hold on to.
Example: This morning, with every exhale was a release of heaviness in my heart, and tightness in my chest.
Each exhale is intentionally created to make room for what I wish to draw into me in my next inhale, while each inhale is intentionally carrying into me what I wish to embody and be with.
I guess, I’ll call this intentional breathing.
2. Eyes up at the sky.
The sky has recently been who I turn to most,
when I find myself struggling.
Be it struggling to understand what’s happening around me,
or struggling to identify and label what I’m feeling.
These are tough moments we all will meet with, and I cannot stress enough how important it is to find your own way of moving through these moments.
It is crucial for each of us to explore and find out what works best to ground us, when our internal world gets messy and confusing.
For me, it’s the sky.
I stare at it, and allow my eyes to connect with the blues and the whites,
the greys and the oranges as times cruises towards the evening.
The sky awes me, with how these white forms are purely made of liquid and yet they hold their spaces above us,
drifting through different heights,
shifting in shape every single second.
Clouds never remain the same;
it reminds me that life is as such too.
It reminds me to keep moving, keep breathing, because life is a constant series of change,
and I will move past this phase of my life.
3. High-5 (to myself.)
This one, I only picked it up recently from a dear friend.
He taught me about how our minds are malleable, and he often uses high-5s to give himself a boost in confidence during his work presentations or meetings.
So, I decided to try it for myself, and it works wonders for me in a few ways, haha.
One, doing it makes me laugh at myself.
When was giving ourselves a high-5 ever not a silly thing?
And this laughter lightens my whole being.
Two, high-5s allow me to feel connected to myself.
A high-5 sends myself the message that,
“ …hey, I’m here for you!”
And in times where our hearts are weighted with emotion?
You being your own cheerleader and supporter is one thing that could hold you up through the day.
Those are the 3 practical steps I follow, when I wake up with a heavy heart.
And I’ll end this article, exactly the way I began.
Because those are words I hope for you to carry with yourself,
So, again.
This is for you, for the days you wake up with your heart numb from heartbreak,
or swallowed whole by shame.
This is for you,
for the days you may wake up with your heart throbbing in grief,
or trembling in disbelief.
I only wish that with these 3 practical steps to follow,
they allow you to hold your own heart with gentleness and compassion.
Because right now, that’s really all your heart needs.
It doesn’t need any answers, explanations nor condemnations.
Your heart just needs you to take care of it for now.
love,
Valerie.
