Fire In The Heart

Being your whole, fabulous self in its complete entirety is not an easy job. It’s probably not escaped your notice that the handbag and prosecco obsessions in my life are quite often engaged in an indelicate skirmish with the parts of me that reflect hippie, tree-hugging values and the search for a deeper meaning in life. Attempting to package that little lot together into a cohesive personality is way too much effort, so quite frankly I’ve just stopped trying. Even the seemingly contradictory parts of yourself can happily co-exist if you’re willing to just allow that to be OK. Genuine self-acceptance begins with realising that it’s your quirks that make you interesting. To exclude any part of yourself is to create an internal civil war that will ultimately cause you to self-destruct, because you’ll have cut yourself off from your own authenticity.

Speaking of old hippies, I heard a great quote from the musician Carlos Santana recently, who said, “If you stay in your heart you will always be inspired. If you’re inspired you will always be enthusiastic and there’s nothing more contagious on this planet than enthusiasm.” Apart from being an institution on the music scene for over thirty years, Santana is also a philanthropist who quietly goes about making a contribution to the world in line with his spiritual values, including donating the entire proceeds of his Shaman tour to help combat the AIDs crisis in Africa. He’s a flesh and blood reminder to us that whatever we want to create or offer, we can do it in our own way, without compromising who we are.

We need creative, funky and vibrant people from all walks of life to mirror back to us that spirituality and a life of vitality and passion aren’t mutually exclusive. We need to remember that enthusiasm, not dry dogma, is what drives real change in our lives and keeps us on song and on purpose. I love it that Santana went on to say, “In my life, I don't want to be a victim and I don't want to be a tragedy. I want triumph—spiritual triumph—with humility and grace, beauty, elegance, and excellence. You know, I learned a lot from Duke Ellington about class, and from Nat King Cole and Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr, and John Coltrane about humility. So I have crystallised all my religion into no religion – into spirituality. Religion is finely designed to divide and separate; spirituality brings unity and forgiveness and compassion.” Imagine a life of spiritual triumph – now that’s something to aspire to!

We’ve got the aim in sight – the spiritual triumph of being your total, fabulous self – but how do you stay on track day to day and keep your enthusiasm and inspiration levels high? Having a clean slate to start with is a big help, so here’s a mini-meditation to help you feel balanced and in tune with yourself. It’s a mindfulness practice, but it’s really about noticing what’s going on in your body, because that’s the fastest way to check in on your energy and deal with one of the biggest killjoys known to man – free-floating anxiety.

We’re in the midst of tough times on the planet and the fifth anniversary of September 11 is only a week away, so it’s not surprising that there’s a lot of general anxiety about. If you’re in any way sensitive, you’ll be picking that up, regardless of what else is going on in your life.

Sensitivity and intuition go hand-in-hand with empathy, which means that you can be picking up on other people’s stressful energy and not even realise it’s happening. Ever had a day when you were feeling upbeat and happy, but suddenly and unaccountably found yourself feeling flat and drained? That’s a sign that you’re picking up on other people’s stress. The trick is to notice it as it happens and learn to let it go. While you’re at it, you can release any of your own daily build-up of stress and anxiety too, with this simple practice that will only take a couple of minutes to do. We’re going to do a quick visualisation on lifting solar plexus energy into the heart. Most of us store our anxious feelings around the solar plexus, just below where the lower ribs meet, and our positive feelings are felt more strongly in the heart. This practice helps you fill your heart with positive and joyful energy that uplifts and burns off the anxious feelings stuck in the solar plexus.

Give it a try now – briefly close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing, noticing how it naturally slows down when you pay attention to it. As you feel yourself settling into a natural rhythm of deeper breathing, bring your attention to your heart and imagine it as a huge and vibrant sun. Feel it radiating light and joyfulness, growing stronger the more you pay attention to it. Do this until you can feel a great sense of expansion, warmth and lightness in your heart. Notice that as your heart energy grows and expands, it draws the energy up from the solar plexus like small flames that disappear in the powerful light of the sun. Keep allowing these flames to be drawn in and dissipated until you feel a sense of release and relaxation in your solar plexus. Finish by holding that sense of joy in your heart and returning your attention to the room, stretching a little to make sure you’re fully grounded and focused.

This is a good starter for the day if you notice you’re preoccupied with something, as an energy top-up during a coffee break, or to release your worries of an evening as you fall asleep. Your ability to stay strong in your intentions, pay attention to your intuition and maintain your enthusiasm will all radically improve if you keep your energy clear in this way. Just imagine what you could do if you weren’t being held back by fear or anxiety …

Inspiring people get other people juiced up about their own lives. Even if they did nothing else, that would be a massive contribution in itself. This week, find some role models of inspiration and, even better, be one. Here’s a little more insight from Santana to help you on your way: “My meat and potatoes is my intention, motives, and purpose, and the company that I keep … if I never got an award, that would be fine with me, because the company that I keep is very inspiring and stimulating. I love hanging around vibrant people, people who don't walk around with a tag. You can never put a tag on a Mandela or a Desmond Tutu or a Harry Belafonte. You cannot buy these people, and once they set out to do something, you can't bribe them. Those are the kinds of people that I'd like to be centre stage with.”

Spend time with the people who inspire you, embrace all that you are with humour and humility and, before you know it, you’ll be inspiring someone too …

Coach Fabulous is updated every Thursday at http://coachfabulous.blogspot.com. You can also use the link in the Favourite Sites section on the right. For alert emails on new postings, send a blank emailto IAmFabulousCo@aol.com with 'Subscribe' in the title field. All material © 2006 Alison Porter. No article may be reproduced in full or in part without the express permission of the author. (Originally posted 4 Sep 06)