When people discuss what it means to Open Your Heart, their intentions aren’t always apparent. You don’t want to rip open your chest and leave yourself wounded, exposed, and defenseless to the outside world. On the other hand, you don’t want to isolate yourself and lead a constrained and limited life.
So, where do you feel your level of openness is at its ideal Goldilocks balance? The rapid response? It is personal. What might be a happy place for you might be the worst place in the world for someone else. This calls for you to examine within and ascertain the base from which you are currently working. You can then start figuring out ways to broaden your perspective.
There are some attributes that an open heart shares, though, and you can work on them no matter where you are right now. These include perspective, benevolence, kindness, compassion, equanimity, and the ability to wish people well (particularly those who have wronged you).
Let’s examine each of these traits in more detail. This will produce resources for enhancing their influence in your life. Additionally, it will contribute to a deeper understanding of what it means to open your heart.
Open-mindedness
Have you ever noticed how positive things tend to attract one another? Being open-minded and open-hearted are virtues. This might be the case since honesty in any situation encourages honesty in general. Being open naturally leads to this because it feels nice. It also proves to be helpful in several different ways.
Luke D. Smillie, a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Melbourne in Australia, highlighted several research on “openness to experience” that showed the wide-ranging advantages of this quality in an essay for the Scientific American.
They included having more significant levels of creativity, imagination, and intellectual curiosity; the capacity to see and process more in the visual field; a reduced propensity for psychological “blind spots”; the ability to experience conflicting emotional states simultaneously; and generally having greater adaptability and inclusivity (Smillie).
With such a wide range of advantages, it is clear why developing openness is beneficial. Fortunately, starting it only requires a little awareness. Be aware of your surroundings and how you respond to them. Add an extra beat or breath, and concentrate on responding consciously rather than automatically.
You are attempting to avoid making snap decisions and cultivating an attitude that values inquiry. These actions will eventually lead to more of the same, and your mind will keep growing.
Kindness
Consider how it affects your mind, body, and energy level the next time you do something nice for someone. Most people experience warmth in their bodies, openness, clarity in their minds, and a boost in energy due to these actions.
Because it links you to others, strengthens your feeling of community, and demonstrates the differences you can make, this straightforward practice is one of the easiest methods to open your heart to others.
Generosity
According to the Bible, giving is preferable to receiving; however, in my experience, providing consistent results in receiving. We experience surrender when we give something to someone else. We put ourselves in the service of something bigger than ourselves and let go of concerns for our welfare.
According to research by Park et al. for Nature Communications, “behavioral and neurological evidence supports the relationship between generosity and happiness” (Park et al.). This work expanded on earlier research that showed the same thing, but it also improved the method to demonstrate the significance of empathy and social commitments in encouraging charitable action.
Therefore, having empathy for others and having faith in the value of our promises to one another enhances our likelihood of being generous and our levels of enjoyment when doing so. This particular process is the one that opens the heart.
Equanimity
One of the most important aspects of opening your heart is having the ability to maintain equilibrium and composure no matter what the world throws at you. This phrase conjures up the image of the calm within the storm. You are better equipped to care for and include others if you feel at peace with yourself and are not startled by life’s setbacks.
On the other hand, if each challenge knocks you off balance, the work it takes to get back on your feet will prevent you from becoming more inclusive. Instead of opening up to the rest of the world, someone who constantly feels attacked will remain on the defensive, shielding oneself from harm.
You must establish an oasis within yourself, where you may find serenity, to behave consciously and purposefully even during the most challenging situations if you want to open your heart and enjoy the many benefits this brings.
Compassion
The heart’s doors are flung open by this emotion. Including and caring for people comes naturally when you have a loving concern for them. You would suffer if you failed in doing so. When you see the profound importance of every life and treat them as sovereign beings, you wish to protect and maintain them. Your heart will open up the more this feeling is expansive and all-encompassing.
Perspective
A vital tool for opening the heart is the capacity to imagine life from the perspective of other living species, not only humans. It encourages compassion, for starters. Finally, it makes living a more joyful process since the richness of what you can experience continually expands because you are not constrained by the confines of your own embodied life (the numerous benefits of which we have already discussed).
Good Wishes to Others
Being able to get along with others is not always achievable. Even without physically occupying the exact location, how we perceive others and how it affects our feelings and actions still significantly impacts how we act and feel daily.
Wishing them well even when someone has hurt us lets us let go of our resentment and blame. Our hearts are constricted by judgment but open when we release negative emotions. It pays to pack lightly when traveling and in life in general. Avoid carrying luggage. You don’t need to travel comfortably and without mental burdens. Now is the time to open your heart
References:
“Openness to Experience: The Gates of the Mind,” by Luke Smillie Openness to experiencing the gates of the mind, Scientific American, 15 August 2017, available at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/
S. Park, T. Kahnt, A. Dogan, and others a neurological connection between happiness and generosity. 15964 Nat Commun (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15964
