By: Amanda Froelich,
Whether it’s the flaw or gift of being human, emotion can find ways to permeate into the core of one’s being, inevitably causing some form of heart ache in life at one point or another. The aching, burning sensation that literally can manifest as heart-break or heart issues according to metaphysical healers can be a travesty to endure, overcoming seeming impossible.
However, there are helpful steps one can take on their journey to finding peace and resolving the disharmony in their heart. To move past the hurt takes the courage of letting go, feeling the emotion, and through it all keeping a positive mindset that life brings constant change, to resist only causes more fear while flowing with it can mend many past hurts.
1. Sleep
“Sleep on it” is meant for more than a large business proposal someone offered you. Sleeping especially after a teary evening will refresh the system; it creates better mental alertness, reduces fatigue, clears a foggy head, strengthens focus, improves mood and mental capabilities substantially, and most importantly, helps one cope with stress. Because heart ache in any form is stressful for the body, sleep is one of the first things you can do for yourself to heal and let go.
Spiritually, one is also most connected to their true ‘selves’ and divine consciousness in the dream state, so if there are underlying lessons you are working on, you might wake up feeling more peaceful and refreshed about the situation without clearly knowing why.
2. Be in Nature
There’s a reason the heart Chakra is green and nature calls to those emotionally distraught. Being surrounded by the wilderness in times of distress can help alleviate tension and commonly creates a feeling of calm. The aura of nature in general is very healing and soothing; in an area with increased oxygenation, less worldly calls, and silence to ‘think’ or just ‘be’, it’s an easy environment to clearly evaluate the situation and work on moving on.
3. Go for a Walk
Exercise does more than keep a body fit, it physically helps detoxify, strengthen organs, increase endurance, and improve oxygenation. When one is more oxygenated, they have better cognizant function, have enhanced mood, and can cope with stress much more efficiently. Reducing the levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, in the blood stream by going for a walk (in nature!) will leave you more refreshed and feeling capable of dealing with what’s happening in your heart.
4. Write it out
So you can better understand what emotions you feel, what truly is nagging on you, and what you need to let go of in order to move on, journal it. Take time whenever you feel the need to write it all out – every little detail – as if it’s the most important notebook in the world. You heart deserves to heal, and by putting it down on paper you’ll most likely feel better at expressing what has been holed up inside.
5. Forgive
As the heart Chakra corresponds with forgiveness, it is imperative that you work through the emotions which you are feeling and try to understand the other person/s point of view if you feel betrayed by another. It’s easy to hold a grudge, demonize an individual for their actions, and hold a superior air to keep your ego intact…but the only true way of healing the heart from emotional hurt from another is to forgive. Jesus’ main theme was of forgiveness and regardless of religious or spiritual background, it was a message of what is needed in order to sustain an open heart and re-accept happiness in one’s life. What you need in order to forgive another of their trespasses against you is something only you know, but it’s important to resolve nonetheless.
6. Purge the words
Contrary to out-dated perception, seeking therapy is not an act of weakness or sign of mental imbalance. In fact it’s a highly respectable action as speaking to someone about your problems is very therapeutic and can help mend a heart by expressing what you’re feeling. Either with a friend or a qualified psychiatrist or therapist, spill your heart in a safe environment and let it out so you can let it go.
7. Pick up a new hobby
There’s nothing better to keep the mind off ‘what ifs’ and woes in the heart than picking up a new hobby. Too often one can dwell on their issues without finding any other sort of release for their pent up emotions or energy, and this can create stagnant energy. By taking up a new hobby, one fires new patterns in their brain, keeps their attention occupied in the present, and in the long run can find a new way to spend their time which lightens their mood, creating happiness. Great hobby ideas include: horseback riding, tennis, chess, knitting, website design, running/walking, bird watching, online courses, drawing, painting, writing, designing shoes, making dresses, playing music, or any other particularly inviting activity that calls to you.
8. Look on the bright side
Every single person you meet in this lifetime can teach you something about yourself. If you’re suffering heart ache over the loss of a loved one or from an achy break, then take time to sit down and objectively ponder “What has this person taught me?”. Perhaps you learned about how wonderful you, yourself, are, or discovered a new delight – like cooking! – in life. Or maybe you learned to cultivate patience when they took forever in the bathroom…the possibilities of what you may have learned from someone are endless, but the beautiful part of forming a bond with anybody is that you can take what you learned from your relationship and apply it to become your best self.
9. Keep your eye on the horizon
Life is change; it’s filled with choice and experience, and the never ending flow of the ‘new’ will never cease. While it’s easy to stay focused on the past or feel dismally about the future, you can accept that you have the power to influence what’s to come through you expectation and choices. Understanding that there is a yin and yang balance to life, bad in order to perceive good, a positive outlook will inevitably bring the brilliant change into your life which you deserve.
In our age of respectable independence and self-assurance promotion, it’s important not to forgive that being human and feeling is not a weakness to be shunned, but a trait which is a fundamental part of the race. Emotions protecting family, searching for new lands, or seeking to discover God all came from a beautiful piece of what makes one human, and it has shaped the world as it is.
Heart ache can be just as brutal as any other injury, and to dismiss can cause further issues down the road. Work through the feelings you are experiencing, not just suppressing, in order to move on and create sustainable, true happiness.
