What opens your heart?

Holiday cheer? Holiday giving? Holiday spirit? I want those things mean to me the same as they would any other time of the year.  I listed my “heart happy” goals yesterday, for the holiday and beyond, and rereading them now makes me smile. I’m actually thinking I should be reading them every morning. Every new day I don’t feel up for or ready to face or willing to tackle. Because it’s not about me, not entirely. Each day is about living and giving and sharing and belonging.

open heart people

Opening your heart to the world around you…what better goal to have? There’s an entire philosophy behind our need to belong and how it drives the majority of conscience and subconscious behavior. Why do we do the things we do, why do we give up on the things we do, and why do we avoid those very things we know we need to face most? Fear and doubt, I say. We worry, and feel insignificant or powerless, and are too often on a self-fulfilling path of “I can’t make that work so why bother.”

“Don’t do that,” my daily list says. The list at the bottom of yesterday’s post that I’ll shake myself awake with each new morning now, because I want this holiday and this life and this chance I have to write and live well to mean something  more than what I want (and am maybe a little afraid I can’t have) for  myself.

What about other people? How can I be useful and meaningful to them?

shared heart

That’s what I hope my writing’s about–the characters and families and friends I write about always coming around to opening up their realities to let others in, and they’re flooded with the rewards of belonging and community that come as a result. That’s what I want my day to be about, too.

A short look at my heart-opening list:

  • Discover and create the family I want, making each moment real.
  • Dig deep for the truth that must be dealt with, so the good stuff my family needs can become our reality.
  • Reach out and do the same for my community and inspire others to make the same difference in someone else’s life.
  • See the good that comes into my world and the worlds of others as a result. See the blessings all around us, because people care and anyone can belong to that caring. Believe in that more than in everything we’re still missing.
  • Stop worrying about the rest. Go back to the start of the list and spend that restless, distracting energy on more of the good stuff that reaching out a hand and doing makes happen so much better than worrying ever will.

What’s on your short list?

How are you looking outward today, opening your heart to doing instead of worrying, and making a difference in your family and community?

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2 Responses to “What opens your heart?”

  1. Mona Kekstadt says:

    Hi Anna,
    Make all the moments spent with my sister and my nephews who I don’t see everyday. Special..enjoy the days with my husband when he’s home…his schedule it’s not easy..
    I want to try harder to get my family to get together more often…I don’t see them very much…

    I’m going to get your book…the picture just grabbed me, and I just read all the reviews plus the description and just have to buy it….I’m glad it’s in paperback..I feel like I connect with characters better that way…Hope you have a very wonderful week….
    All my best..
    Mona

  2. librarypat says:

    Oops, put this in yesterday’s post. Community involvement is important for us. There are so many that aren’t as fortunate as we are.

    Participate in community programs such as the angel tree at our church (we sponsored 2 children again this year), we work with the Red Cross and a couple of other organizations to serve holiday meals to veterans and the Boys And Girls Club, and we donate to other community programs like the animal shelter.

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