Heartmanity's Blog

Our brains, human behavior, and conditioning have always been a great fascination for me. Every single person is unique, giving them a distinct perspective. Each person sees life differently based on temperament, personality, and past experiences. But not just their experiences, but what conclusions they draw from their experiences. What an incredible opportunity we have to learn empathy and understanding.

It's true...we all live in a private little universe. No matter how close we become with another human being, we can never truly know what another person feels and experiences. In fact, a [...]

There’s a lot of talk about how we sabotage our personal and professional success. We’ve been told that we’re often working against ourselves and to beware of the ego. Self-sabotage is sometimes depicted by that overused image of a devil on one shoulder versus an angel on the other. Psychology Today even refers to self-sabotage as the enemy within. Webster’s dictionary defines sabotage as “an act or process tending to hamper or hurt.” These viewpoints suggest that we need to be on guard, ready to protect ourselves from the invisible saboteur within us. But is there another perspective that is [...]

Do you find yourself stuck even when you have an important goal? Do you procrastinate and then heap guilt and shame on yourself, making you feel even worse? Perhaps you are backsliding because you can no longer motivate yourself and completely stalled out. What do you do?

The first step toward reaching our goals and overcoming obstacles is understanding how we are motivated.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

A frequent question I get asked is “So, how do I change?” Change doesn't happen overnight, but one thing is for sure: the quality of our lives is an accumulation of our habits. You're either forming healthy habits that create a better life, a happier self, and a more loving relationship with yourself and others. Or you are reinforcing bad habits that inhibit your best self and life.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

From an early age, we’re inundated by the concept of success through television, movies, the music industry, social media, and other people.

But the pressure to succeed doesn’t only affect children. Many parents also feel the strain. Some parents resort to extreme measures to help their children prosper in academic and extracurricular activities.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Dr. Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist and founder of the Amen Clinics, believes that our brain is the hard drive of our souls. That’s a radical statement, but the brain is the command center of our entire system. Without a working brain, we lack self-identity, cannot interact with the world, and lose the ability to learn, grow, and experience life.

As it becomes increasingly evident that habits are the key to optimizing our health, including brain fitness, brain function, cognitive health, physical and mental health, it’s crucial that we develop healthy habits. To do so, we need to be mindful of [...]

“Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater.” — Viktor Frankl

We often pursue our goals with a lot of focus on the perceived destination. Viktor Frankl is elegantly sharing that it is healthier for us to focus on being present-minded while also organically exploring our values and what motivates us internally. Of course, having goals and something to aim at is very healthy for [...]

When the COVID-19 outbreak hit last year, we used several ways to handle stress during this challenging time. Many found music to be their best friend while trying to deal with stressful thoughts and circumstances.

People have written music to poke fun at, as well as, promote social distancing, handwashing, and mask-wearing. During the pandemic and the required isolation, music was a go-to for many people, listening to it in their homes on a substantially larger scale and even learning to play instruments.

Dr. Charles Raison said in an interview recently with The Sun magazine: “We’ve replaced a fictitious certainty with an honest confusion.” A statement has never felt truer.

Whatever certainty we may have thought we possessed has since blown away like an empty plastic bag in the wind. This past year has been unprecedented and challenging, with disruption felt to our core. The pandemic has taught us many lessons, and one shouts louder than most: we affect one another—profoundly. In times like these, emotional fitness, resiliency, empathy, and inner peace are priceless treasures.

It's been a crazy time for everyone with the pandemic. Not only do we now need to keep up with our work, but unexpectedly we can be required to quarantine due to Covid-19. And if you're a parent, it's even trickier as school shifted to virtual learning so you're responsible for this big change as well. We haven't yet found our new normal so mindfulness is even more important. 

Are you feeling more overwhelmed than usual with work stress? Is multitasking not helping you keep up? Is your mind racing so much at night that you can’t sleep? Yep, it’s time—time to carve out a few minutes daily to [...]