Listen to this track as you read. “So We Won’t Forget” is a groovy single from Khruangbin, with a message about remembering the people and the moments we love. The lyrics of this song implore the listener to treasure what is in front of them.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the word “half-heartedly”— of doing things half-heartedly and living half-heartedly.

Every time I come back to the winter in the Northern Hemisphere after spending time in the summer in Perú it becomes very obvious to me how easy it is to get sucked in the vortex of the city's busyness; of how fast it is to become a productive thick-skinned human being. When we unconsciously choose to become numb in order to have peace of mind, we block experiences out so we don’t have to deal with the burden of having to feel them. But in doing so, we miss out on life’s richness.

When we get used to numbing out, internal and external life stops touching us; as a result, we seek pleasure and distraction in social media, in food, in busyness, in alcohol, or drugs because we simply are in need of FEELING SOMETHING outside of ourselves. Just as we block experiences out, we also lock experiences in; we keep in our inner emotional life because we fear that if we let something out, we will uncontrollably spill ourselves out, but by doing this blocking out and locking in, we start to get used to living a perfunctory, flat, cold, unauthentic, and uninteresting life.

Think about it this way: when we become desensitized from the “bad”, we will also become desensitized from the “good”. Sensitivity is not selective; either you’re awake, aware, and noticing things going on, or you’re asleep, on autopilot, and not perceiving the world around you. The more we allow outer life to touch us, the more inner life we will cultivate, and the happier and more engaged we will be.

There is so much life in life already; it’s just a matter of waking up our receptors in order to realize it and take it all in.

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer” - Albert Camus

Take a moment and ask yourself: Am I living half-heartedly? Is there anything I’m pushing under the rug so that I don’t have to face it? Do I get bored or tired easily? When I wake up in the morning, do I make a conscious decision to give it all I’ve got? Am I grateful for what I do have and who I am? And can I, from now on, promise myself to give my full attention, intention, and whole heart to everything that I do and come across in my day?

Am I putting my heart over my head?

I know that doing this is hard, mainly because we get lost in our thoughts, which many times just takes us on a downward spiral. The mind is pretty powerful because it can make us think that she’s actually right. So how do you tell your mind to shut up if she’s the only one that wants to talk? We need to get her a teacher: the heart. The heart has to teach and instruct the mind to calm down.

Let’s claim back our ability to find full enthusiasm, interest, and energy in life. Commit yourself to show up for your life no matter what, by putting your heart into things. Make a conscious decision to be up for the journey, whatever it may bring.

We only have so much strength, so let’s not waste it in carrying things around in our minds and hearts that pull us down. Let’s not put so much effort to keep the feelings of resentment, grudge, and hatred alive inside of us.

You don't have to hold your happiness until a future time when all your problems are solved, when your to-do list is finally empty, when your desires get gratified, when your health is perfect, or when all the news are good. Whatever your goals in life, the quality of the journey has to become more important than reaching your destination. You have spent your entire life, seeking to arrive in some place. What if this is it? ACTUALLY, this IS IT. And recognizing this IS meditation.
- Vipassana Org

Yoga poses are really powerful because the outer shape that your body takes can profoundly affect your inner shape: how you think and feel inside.

Allow the shape of your body to re-shape your mind, right now. Put your head down (the haunting thoughts down) and lift your heart up, so that you can see the world in a more loving light.

3 yoga poses where the heart is placed above the head:

1. SHOULDER STAND:

Shoulder-stand is a very simple kind of inversion in which you purposefully place the head below the heart and lift your legs up to the sky. This posture also brings your head closer to your heart, allowing you to really listen. Inversions are the most potent asanas, mainly because of the reason that the head is placed below the heart.

From the Jivamukti Yoga Book: Physiologically, inverted postures reverse the internal dynamic pressures that affect blood flow, endocrine function, bone formation, muscle tone, connective tissue, waste removal, and organ function, including brain chemistry. The effect of gravity is reversed, and to compensate for that reversal, the body must make dramatic internal changes.

Shoulder-stand should be held for a minimum of 5 minutes so that certain chemical secretions can be released from the glands. Master glands such as the pituitary, pineal, and thyroid will be stimulated.

2. HALASANA (plow pose):

Stagnation is the poison that the plow removes so that new growth may appear from the earth. The heart can get heavy from too much rancor, judgment, grudge, jealousy, resentment, or fear that we keep inside. Just like the plow, the farming equipment used to dig into, break, and turn over the soil to prepare it for planting, Halasana helps remove stagnation in the heart and prepares our inner ground and soil so that we can plant new seeds in our lives in order to live steadily and joyfully. Until we choose either to turn everything upside down and get fresh perspectives on things, or really make an intention to carve out the negative emotions, these will keep circulating through our minds and bodies and keep intoxicating us.

3. FISH POSE:

Matsyasana or Fish Pose is a counter-pose to shoulder stand, and it contains a deep message in its shape: it is a pose of offering, of openness, of sweetness, of receptivity, of bringing the heart center up, and the head down, rooting down from the base of your spine. That’s the thing: we have to place the head down, in order to lift the heart up. This pose physically and energetically opens up the chest (heart chakra) and the neck (throat chakra), opening us to love and communicating our truth into the world.

Press your elbows into the floor, arch your chest, and lift your head off the floor, slowly lowering the top of your head to the floor. Draw attention to neck length, chest expansion, and lengthening of your lower back. Shoulders should not shrug, don’t sit on hands; instead allow hands to be free to reach further along the floor toward feet, as the chest opens more. If this is hard, you can also use a rolled-up mat or blanket under the upper back.

Whatever we give our energy or attention to, it gets stronger. When you feel a limitation, don’t focus your attention on the limitation, because that will only direct your energy toward the tendency that created the limitation in the first place. Instead, reverse the process, invert it, and see things from the opposite direction. Then get close to your heart, and stay there listening to what it has to say.

Let’s live whole-heartedly with our heart over head, like Matsyasana teaches us: with our hearts open so that we can be complete, earnest, committed, and enthusiastic people, free from all reserve, fear, and judgment. Let’s live in a place of unconditional love. Let yourself be touched by the outside world and be moved inside. Pay attention to detail, go deeper, and inquire. AND put your heart into it.