Care for Your Heart by Embracing Rhythm
Coach Art Gangel
autores@tisoc.com
If you’re like most people in the Western world, you probably
don’t take much time to think about your spirit, or heart. Your
heart is the central part of you; it is the part of you that was
designed to help you navigate through life. It is the “real you”;
the you that is not affected by life’s circumstances, pains, or setbacks. But
we don’t place a very high value on our hearts here in the West. We
see life through the lens of the Industrial Revolution, which reduced humans to
machines, and the Enlightenment, which placed such a high value on empirical
knowledge that tension, mystery, and story have been devalued and
marginalized. But in the midst of these cultural forces, the human
heart still cries out. It thirsts for adventure; for real, deep
life. This cry is highlighted because most of our nine-to-five,
consumeristic lives pale in comparison to the full life promised in the
gospel. At the end of each day, each week, or our lives, we’re left
asking, “Is this all there is to life?” If you’re asking that
question of your life, good for you. You’re on the right
track. So what’s the answer?
Of course, the answer is that this is not all there is. There
is more to life than just a paycheck, our bills, dead-end jobs, and shopping,
drinking, or eating until we’re numb to life. But we’re so far out of
balance in the Western world that a strong pendulum shift in the direction of
our hearts is needed to correct the imbalance. In Western culture,
we tend to see things in compartments instead of seeing everything as part of a
unified, connected, balanced whole. For instance, the majority of us
take a lot of time and energy to care for what goes into our bodies and how we
treat them. We actually have a pretty good idea of what our bodies
need. Of course, we may not act on those ideas, but we are inundated
with so much information about how to care for our bodies that we at least have
the information on hand. This reflects the extremely high value our
culture places on the body. However, try asking people to simply
define what their heart or spirit is, let alone how to care for it. Since
we can’t see our hearts, we have a much harder time grasping what they are, and
most of us haven’t the slightest idea what they need or how to care for them.
An important principle I’ve discovered in my life is that life
is intended to be lived in concert with daily and weekly rhythms. It’s so
tempting in our culture to want to do something and produce at all times,
living like we are machines. But we aren’t machines, and we’re not
capable of producing indefinitely. We need to set aside times and
spaces to disengage from the “doing” parts of life, and embrace the “being”
parts. After all, as it’s been said, we’re not called “human
doings”, but “human beings”. If we refuse to accept this reality,
life will “turn up the volume”, bringing pain or injury to us in order to slow
us down or stop us for a period. But one way or another, we will
have to stop at some point.
Another guiding principle I try to embrace is that life is
really a set of practices, regardless of whether we choose to embrace these
practices intentionally, or whether we allow our practices to be formed for
us. You may have heard practices referred to as habits or
rituals. These terms all refer to the same concept. Here
are some of the practices that I have embraced that help me live life more
rhythmically:
- Each
morning, I take about 40 minutes to an hour of solitude time, in
which I do devotional reading, prayer, meditation, and sometimes
journaling. This ritual allows me to clear my mind from any clutter
that I am carrying with me, process any worries or concerns I have on my mind,
and invite God into my day. If you’re not a praying type, you can
center yourself through meditation and journal to clear your mind, aligning
your conscious attention with your heart. By doing devotional
reading each day, I also fill my subconscious mind with inspiring and
thought-provoking ideas that it can work on throughout the day. It’s
amazing how the ideas I read about intersect with my daily life and the
struggles I’m going through.
- Ironically,
one of the most important habits in my spiritual life is actually my physical
workouts. I say it’s ironic because most people think of working
out as a practice to serve their body’s needs. And that’s true, my
workout regimen does develop my body. But I’ve found if I don’t complete
my workouts, I don’t feel as centered on my heart. I have unspent
energy that has to go somewhere, and it often gets expressed as negative
emotions. By working off this excess energy, I’m able to be more
fully present in each moment, which is important for me. I like to
hit the gym in the morning, before my solitude time. I work out four
or five mornings a week.
- Another
physical practice that pays spiritual dividends is embracing rhythms ofconsistent
sleep. I try to go to bed and get up around the same time each
day. I also consistently get seven hours of sleep per night. We
often think if we’re tired during the day that we must not be getting enough
sleep. However, it’s actually much more important to keep a
consistent bedtime and waking time. Large shifts in these times
throw the body off its natural rhythm and keep it guessing, which results in
feeling tired or drowsy throughout the day.
- In
addition to a consistent sleep cycle, I also take regular breaks during
my workday. I strive for a morning break and an afternoon break, but
I confess that doesn’t always happen. About mid-way through my
morning and afternoon, I get up, go outside, breathe deeply, and center myself
for a few minutes. I may listen to the wildlife around me, or pay
special attention to nature. It’s just a nice way to reset my energy
and attention, and to disengage from producing for a while. It also
aligns with the body’s natural Circadian rhythms, which is why we feel drowsy
in the middle of the afternoon.
- On
a weekly basis, it’s important to have a day of rest, where no work
gets done. The bible calls this concept “Sabbath”, and it’s crucial
to a healthy spiritual life. This one is probably the most
challenging practice for me, and for most of us. If you’re like me,
you use the weekends, including Sunday, to get the stuff done around your house
that you don’t have time to do during the week. It’s tempting to
make a list of things to do that’s as long as your arm and strive to check them
off by the end of the weekend. The trouble with this approach is
that it often leaves us spent for the workweek. We need a break from
the weekend, so we go back to work. But that doesn’t leave us very
productive on Mondays. Taking a day off, where nothing needs to be done,
reminds us that most of the gifts in our lives aren’t due to our striving, but
are given freely.
- Another
weekly practice I embrace is a time of public worship. For
me, it’s essential to step back and recognize that I am not in control of my
life and that I am not God. I attend a church each week where I
publicly declare my thanks and praise for a Creator that is infinitely
merciful, just, and wise. I am able to give to others in need
through prayer, conversation, and monetary donations. I also receive
instruction and get to know God better in these times. But the
primary goal in weekly worship is just that – to worship my God.
I don’t pretend to know how to care for my heart
perfectly. Life is a process of continual growth and learning, and I
plan to learn every day until I die. And since our hearts are so
mysterious, I expect to be learning about my heart every day. No
matter how deep we go in this life, we’re always just scratching the
surface. It’s nice to remind myself that once in a while when I
start feeling I’ve got it all figured out. But by embracing the
rhythms built into the universe and opening ourselves up to the beauty, joy,
and mystery that surrounds us, we’ll set ourselves up to go as deep as we can, and
to surprise ourselves with what we find there.
(The author is an
IAC-certified life coach, specializing in helping people discover and live into
their true selves. He also works with people who are in the process of
becoming life coaches.)
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