Living a Heart-Centred Life
“Remember the emphasis on the heart, the mind lives in doubt and the heart lives in trust. When you trust, suddenly you become centred.” Rajneesh
Last week a student told me that he took dance classes in high school but my classes were so much different. He said that he could see that I love what I do and he could feel my energy and passion and that it permeated the classes. It was a great compliment. It also made me think about what draws us to certain places and people and what makes us stay.
When I was 16 years old, I discovered a Chinese chess game called Go. For the next six and half years, mastering Go was my life. I was pretty good. I competed in North America. I started a high school club where I met my first girlfriend. Admittedly, she was the only girl who ever joined my Go club. But then something shifted. When I was 23, I started to dance. I started taking Salsa classes and dance became and 12 years later continues to be my obsession.
So why did I stick with Chinese chess and Dance? I tried so many other things and I didn’t stick with any of them. What was the difference? Curiosity brought me to Go but I became obsessed because I found a community and felt like I belonged.
I started to dance because I was an insecure, overweight guy, who didn’t feel very masculine, couldn’t dance and felt uncomfortable around girls. But what kept me going and made me fall in love with dance? I found a place where I #belong. And in spite of all the ups and downs of dance, and the pandemic, I’m still here and I still love what I do. I’m so blessed and grateful.
That feeling of belonging was what was consistent in both Go and Dance. That was always at the center of my heart. And the coolest part was, I only found out that my core value is #belong about six years ago, but when I found out, it made sense. The people that I was unconsciously attracted to and pulled towards and wanted to be around all fit into this value.
The more I centre my life around my core value of #belong, the more I can be, do and give the best of myself. That’s what that student really was feeling. He and every other student at Toronto Dance Salsa gets the best of me. I am where I am supposed to be because of the community because I #belong.
I believe that in all of us, there’s this single thing at our core. It is what you value most. It can be #belong, #love, #care, #believe, #kindness, #sparkle, #acceptance, #empathy, #family. It can be anything but once you discover it and you get to put yourself in places where there is more of that value, it is truly amazing.
Imagine a life where everything – your relationships, your job, your hobbies – has an element of your core value. Your life is heart-centered and full.
We all have our different reasons for what pulls us to things, but I believe in my heart, that what keeps us is the heart – that core value that drives you.
If we can all just be a little bit more intentional this week with our core value, with our heart center, with our one word, the whole world becomes a more beautiful place. Because if we’re all living that heart-centered life, everyone gets the best of us – including ourselves.
Read You Don’t Have to Be Alone to discover more about making connections.
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