Monthly Musing – July 2025 – Heartbeat

I got an email the other day from someone whose list I subscribe to; they’re gentle emails about reconnecting with your intuition and your soul, and they always seem to drop into my inbox at a time when I need to read them most.

This particular email was all about the heart and how we should listen to it – a constant beat that steadies and grounds us; often ignored but always present, and more than simply an organ that keeps us alive.  Apparently, our hearts produce the strongest electro-magnetic current in our bodies.  Did you know that?  I didn’t.

“It sends out a powerful signal that can be measured several feet away; a beautiful reminder that your heart’s energy reaches far beyond you, touching the world in ways you may not always see.”

I think that’s lovely, and it’s always good to be reminded that our thoughts and actions are not just contained to our immediate surroundings and connections with other people.  What we do, think and say radiates out like ripples in a pond and even a smile or a simple “hello” can make the world of difference.  We talk about doing, saying or acting “from the heart” and yet I wonder if we really stop to think about what that means.

The point of the email was about stopping to think about the energy of your heart; it’s something that big daughter talks about in her yoga classes and you might go to a class that is similar, but I don’t think it’s necessarily something that we tend to stop and think about on a day to day basis.  I certainly don’t, anyway!

At the end of the email was a short exercise: to find a quiet moment and place your hand over your heart, close your eyes and take three slow, deep breaths and then ask yourself:

“What do I love about myself today?”

What a powerful question – and what a difficult one to answer if you’re not used to thinking about yourself in that way too!  I found this exercise surprisingly difficult.  It felt boastful to say what I loved about myself – far easier to say what I like instead.

I stopped with the negative self-talk many years ago (I decided that it wasn’t right that should speak to myself in a way that I wouldn’t dream of speaking to other people)  and now I’m very good at telling myself, “You’re looking good in that t-shirt today,” or whatever – but it’s something else entirely to say, “I love the way I …”  even if I can say that to someone else.  “I love the way you …” is easy when I think about what I like about another person but not so for myself – how does that work?!

I’ve kept the email and I’ve been back to read it a few times.  “What do I love about myself today?”  Something so simple and yet so difficult!  Or maybe that’s just me … try it and see what you think.

What do you love about yourself today?