5 tools to open your heart daily
I’ve been really into working with self-love and opening and expanding my heart to receive it lately. Can you tell? I recently wrote a post called “all the self-love and 3 ways to open your heart to receive it”. This post is a follow up with very specific tools I love to use to open my heart daily. Here are the moments and tools that come and go that always expand my heart tenfold…
Make a love playlist
I have a 2020 love playlist on spotify. And yes, I do freakin love it! If you are someone who is always moved by music this is a great way to open your heart and take in all the love. Here’s mine ( also - Venus was in the sign of Scorpio when I was born. You’ve been warned…)
1. “After the War” Branches
2. “Holy” by BOOTY
3. “Fade Into You” Mazzy Star
4. “I Can See the Pines are Dancing” A.A. Bondy
5. “Silhouette (feat. Ellie Goulding) Active Child, Ellie Goulding
6. “The Only One” The Black Keys
7. “Together” Miner
8. “When I Look at You” Amo Amo
9. “Mine is Yours” Cold War Kids
10. “Oh No” Softee
11. “Paradise” Odessa
12. “Colourway” Novo Amor
13. “Heartbeats” Jose Gonzalez
14. “Electric Love - Live from SXSW 2015” Borns
Spend time with animals and nature
I am a true lover of animals. I grew up with dogs and cats so I love a good furry companion animal. My current babe is Emily. She is the sweetest and softest thing ever. Sometimes, after a long hard day at work, I come home and lay on my floor or my bed. She’s always there! She trots in circles around my body which I’ve come to learn is her way of helping me ground and clear my energy.
About a year ago, she was diagnosed with cancer. She’s doing really well on treatment but it’s made me more mindful of how much she gives me and how now it’s my turn to help her. So on days when my energy is high, I give her some reiki.
Several times throughout the evening when I am relaxing on the couch or laying on the bed or floor she will come up to me and put her face to mine. It’s the sweetest thing in the world and every time she does it I can feel my heart expand. Sometimes I find my eyes making tears because my heart cannot even hold the love she has for me in those moments. It’s so cute!
You can notice animals everywhere if you don’t have your own animal companion. Animals have such pure souls and primal energy, and love is a primal thing. Animals all tend to radiate an energy that feels so generous because of this purity. I can recall times when I’ve watched mother ducklings escort their babies across busy streets guided by the protection of their love for their young. I also love just watching animals around me whether it’s birds, ducks, butterflies, or even people in my neighborhood showing their own companion animals love by taking them on walks.
One of the things that lights me up is when I see a human taking their dog for a walk and then verbally talking to them in a loving way. Animals are incredibly intuitive. They can understand what your saying because they are so highly receptive to the energy behind your actions and words. I love allowing my heart to open through connecting with the energy of animals all around me.
Use color as therapy
Color therapy is a great tool for shifting your mood quickly. As a visual artist, I love using color to shift my mood from crap to amazing. One of my favorite ways to do this is to create a mood board or vision board. I love using Canva online. It’s quick and easy and you can find plenty of pictures on Pinterest to help.
Green is the color of the Heart Chakra (the energy center located in your chest that governs love and forgiveness). You can also just wear the color that makes you feel love. You can wear a sweater or use it in your makeup routine or even dye your hair. I recently created a vision board to use as an offering to the Goddess Aphrodite. I searched for images that were the color pink. Images that felt really feminine and soft. I have it stored in my photos on my phone and pull it up when I need a visual prompt to shift my energy and open my heart.
Practice loving your inner kid
This was something that has been very hard for me. I appreciate my inner kid, but I also grew up with some instability as a child. So, naturally, it was really difficult. I had to learn to parent myself the way my parents couldn’t when I was younger. I could write a whole other piece about this process! Instead, I’ll offer some things I did to help love my inner kid…
I made my favorite little kid meal (mac N cheese) and pretended I was making it for 5 year old Jamie instead of adult Jamie. I thought about myself as my own daughter and that I was making something comforting with love that would feed her little belly and make her feel loved. This practice might sound silly but it was totally helpful in healing my inner child wound (and the parent wound, no doubt!).
I’ve also pulled photos of my 5 year old self and meditated on sending her love, light and happiness. I’ve carefully taken in the visual of my smaller self with my pig tails and chocolate pudding covered face - the expression on the verge of frustration most likely due to running out of pudding to eat! - and said affirmations. “You are loved” and “Your needs are abundantly met” are two of my favorites.
I’ve also written letters to my 5 year old self. You can pick you at any age to work with when it comes to your inner kid. You could even just take the day to act like a kid if you don’t have any childhood wounds to heal. Kids are great at loving themselves because their needs are so basic. Have fun! Color, draw, wear mismatched clothes, play in the dirt, eat a messy plate of spaghetti and forget to wipe your face. Either way, give yourself permission to love yourself at every age.
Witness someone else receiving love
As I mentioned before, love is so accessible. It’s everywhere if you just look around you. Notice love everywhere. The birds that fly in pairs. The couples holding hands, laughing or showing affection to each other. Notice the parent that lovingly talks to their child or helps them tie their shoe. Some examples of how the Greeks define different kinds of love : Philia - affection that grows from friendship, Storge - love from a strong bond like family or pets, Eros - Romantic love, Agape - Acts of unconditional love. Take note of them and witness them all around you.
I hope just reading these opened your heart! And I hope that you find ways to feel into the depths of the chambers of your own heart. There is so much to love about yourself. Take the time to love yourself everyday.
keep planting and keep breathing,
Jamie
…and if you are interested in deepening your connection to self-love then join me for breathwork. Breathwork is a beautiful tool that helps clear our energy and allows us to consciously connect to ourselves and the world around us. It also expands the heart center. Book a 1:1 or join a group breathwork event today. <3