4H’s Part 4: Lead with Your Heart
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In this series I shared my thoughts on:
This brings me to my 4th key value which binds everything together; Leading with the Heart.
Empathy and compassion
As I have stumbled and bumbled my way through a practice, wise yoga instructors have helped me to improve my poses by encouraging me to lead with my heart.
In my view, this advice goes for all things human. Whether it be communication, establishing and maintaining relationships, managing a project, leading a team through turbulent times, or working toward social change, operating from a place of empathy and compassion is central to our success as humans.
Even when we are challenging injustice, redressing wrongs, and feeling anger or outrage, if a drive toward making things better is not at the heart of what we are doing, situations can degenerate to a place of meaningless violence; to me, violence is one of the greatest harms.
True caring comes from the heart
Meaning and purpose are routed in caring and commitment to something bigger than ourselves. For me, caring comes from the heart and commitment comes from the love of someone or something that has intrinsic value and beauty.
Caring and commitment are the antithesis of violence. They go beyond the intentions that we carry in our head, and into the realm of the emotions and sentiments that we carry in our heart.
How we feel about ourselves, other people, and the planet is connected to the intentions that we set and the actions that we take. When we feel that self, other beings, and our planet are genuinely good, worthy of respect and dignity, the intentions that we set, and our default reactions are more likely to be positive.
When we look for the good rather than fixating on the bad it becomes a whole lot easier to find the positivity and gratitude that are intrinsic to loving self and others.
So rather that fixating on how uncomfortable my COVID face mask is, I am choosing to be grateful that it sure has kept my face warm during the Canadian winter and that being masked has taught me how to smile with my eyes, not just with my mouth.
And each time my eyes crinkle and my lips turn upward in a smile beneath my mask, my heart feels a bit fuller and my willingness to become grateful and generous increases in turn. Goodness, positivity, and heartfelt feelings can beget the same in others in a continuous circle.
Putting your heart into the people and things that matter can help us to:
avoid harming others;
own up and fess up when things go wrong;
humbly acknowledge that each of us is no better than anyone else; and
find humour in our foibles.
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And in these ways the 4Hs come full circle, forming interconnected bonds of human connection!