Abundance of the heart

Out of the abundance of our heart everything flows.  Is that abundance filled with joy, peace, contentment or stress, worry or fear?  The heart looks for connections and we are continually longing to have these connections validated.  Yet, we don't seem to stop or pause in the day to make heart connections.

I have come to realise how much we are continually creating something.  We seem to fit so much into our day that the 24 hours we are constrained by closes in on us.  The other day someone asked me if I got their email (which they sent while we were sitting together). I responded that I would check when I got home.  They assumed that I had set my phone to receive emails.  The person was taken aback that I didn’t have access to emails on my phone: what if I missed responding to an urgent matter? As the conversation continued, we discussed how everything often seems urgent and how we attempt to cram things into our lives.  
 
This got me thinking of how we have allowed technology to rule our time and lives.  We live in a time when technology can be used in ways that benefit us greatly. Yet if we let it rule us, we dismiss the simple yet important things in life, such as connections.
 
Loneliness is growing at a rapid rate; yet on social media we have lots of friends.  We can appear to be connected to people across the world and yet not be connected at all.  To some extent, it is hard to be connected with others when we are not connected with ourselves.  When we live distracted by all that is going on around us, we can fail to be in tune with our thoughts, feelings and even behaviour.  Being disconnected from self can lead us to not being aware of our needs and that we are not living or even functioning from a place of rest.
 
Having healthy connections gives us a sense of belonging and ushers us to a place where we can seek rest.  Living from a place of rest ensures that we have learned to prioritise what is important to us as individuals.  It can further enhance our sense of belonging.  In search of connections, we can miss that we have taken on more than our fair share of responsibilities and duties.  Remember, we can only give out of our abundance.  Consider what your abundance is that you are sharing with others.
 
Today, ask yourself these questions:

• What thoughts rule my life?
• What steals my time?
• What are my strongest connections?
• What are my needs today?
• What steps will I take to effect these changes?