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The Birth of my Authenticity

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One day I awoke to find myself in a narcissistic and abusive cult. Tearing it to the ground and getting everyone else out is how I discovered my authenticity. This awakening freed my authentic voice and gave me a sense of truth I had never known before. After being in the cult for 18 years, getting out was not easy. 

It was 2020. After decades of vocational study, professional work, and deep psycho-spiritual development, something in my life was still tormenting me. So when the leader of the group suggested I try Iboga, I took a leap of faith. Iboga is an African psychedelic used in recovery from addiction and for psycho-spiritual development. Bwiti is the spiritual discipline associated with this medicine that several tribes in Gabon and Cameroon practice.

During the Iboga journey, I received a clear message from the medicine: I was following my mentor and not myself. The truth of this statement was very simple and profound. This truth turned my whole life inside out. 

The medicine dropped me several layers deeper into my being. Things I used to be unsure about became crystal clear. After the medicine journey, I knew what I wanted and what I didn’t want. I could feel it in my body. As I reintegrated into daily life, this sense of authentic truth only grew deeper and stronger. I would no longer yield to suggestions from others when they felt wrong to me. 

The more I spoke my truth, the more conflict brewed with the leader. Eventually, the leader of the cult read a piece of my writing expressing exactly what I felt about him, his psychological abuse, and his lack of integrity with the work he professed to embody. He accused me of being out of integrity and threw me out of the group, claiming it was for my own good. As he threw me out, he pressured me to donate my shares of our co-owned business back to the other partners. It was at that moment that I fully realized I was in a mind-controlling cult.  

Over the next month and a half I did everything I could to communicate to everyone in the group about what I was seeing. At first, no one would listen. However, the spark was alive and after a crucial conversation this spark grew into a flame. Within about two months of my awakening to the cult, everyone was able to liberate themselves from the group except for the leader and his wife. For those of you who don’t know what it’s like to be in a cult, getting out is simply the first step in a long journey of recovering our authentic selves. At the time I got out, I didn’t realize how long my true journey to recovery would be.

The process of liberating myself and supporting others in their liberation from the cult showed me many of my gifts in leadership. I came to realize that I was an extremely authentic person fiercely committed to honesty. I started to find my voice and truth in the world. I was no longer satisfied with following other leaders and wanted to collaborate with peers while being the biggest version of myself I could possibly be. 

As I grew into this next layer of myself, I realized that not only was my fiancé acting in a toxically selfish way toward me, but so were the managers at my company, many of my staff, and about half of the people I had called my friends. I arrived at a crossroads. Should I continue to follow my mind and make life a comfortable place for manipulative people just as they are and thus deny myself? Or should I follow the truth of my heart even if some people will be uncomfortable with my authenticity and fall away from my life? 

Samantha is my friend, musical partner, and a longtime employee at my company. Together, we improvised a song called “The Crossroads.” Singing this song was a watershed moment. It was a point of no return, like crossing the Rubicon for Julius Caesar. After singing this song, I knew the path I was required to walk to fulfill my destiny. While playing the guitar and singing, it became crystal clear to me what I had to do with the company and what role Samantha was going to play. She sang herself into the leader position of the company as she helped guide me forward on my journey. 

I drew a line in the sand and vowed to be completely honest and true to my heart moving forward–both at work and in my life. I let all the chips fall where they may. This led to lots of conflict as I entered into a complete revolution. Over the next five months, 20 of the 22 staff left or were fired as we reshaped the company in a way that was more congruent with our values. We wanted to create a company that works for everyone. To do that, I had to start with myself. I started prioritizing my truth over compromising and appeasing others to avoid conflict.

Authenticity became my new religion. I spoke the truth in every interaction and was no longer afraid to say anything to anyone at any time. When I initially came out of the closet as my authentic self, I was so full of repressed anger toward the cruelty and lies that were suddenly clear to me. I was furious at all the lies and manipulation in our culture. Anytime I sensed a micro-expression of hostility toward me or anyone else, I would fiercely state what I was perceiving. I did not realize how sensitive my awareness had become and how difficult some of my perceptions were for others to understand. I noticed how I was able to feel negative and unsafe energy somatically as a stab to my solar plexus. At the time, I was unaware of how unique my perceptions were, and expected others to hear and accept my experience as valid truth.

I drank deeply from the well of inspiration. The stars shone brightly for me and I drew on the sun’s rays each morning. I received a deep vision of a world that truly works for everyone. I began receiving  profound visions of love, and was moved to do what I can to bring them into being. As a result, I founded Heart-Centered Revolutions, a nonprofit dedicated to making this a world that truly works for everyone. I became inspired to bring more empathy and unconditional love to this world. I completed my first two books and started 30 others on self-care, unconditional love, parenting, empathy, divisive energy, leadership, and so much more. My creativity that had been repressed for 18 years came bursting out. 

In time this radical authenticity softened in me. I began to realize this authenticity was what my father and my whole family had modeled for me. It was something that had always been inside of me all along. I’m grateful for the cult experience and all the narcissistic abuse because it helped me find what I always had deep down inside. 

Authenticity is an integral part of my life’s mission and work. I believe it is part of each of our destiny paths. When we find our authentic way of being, it becomes crystal clear what we came here to do. By turning our passion and energy toward what we love, we set ourselves on the path of fulfilling our deepest purpose. When any of us fully and truly become ourselves, the whole world blossoms. This is my vision for how authenticity can spread from person to person. 

You are drawn to this work because you are a carrier of the seeds of authenticity. May these seeds be sown in your life, family, community, and work. May a truly authentic way of being take root and blossom in all our hearts and in our world.

Heart-Centered Revolutions was created to lead humanity into an age of empathy and unconditional love. You’re invited to participate in the revolution through joining our mailing list for the newsletter  and enrolling in events or courses.

The best way to join this revolution, though, is to practice opening your heart with empathy and truly coming from unconditional love for yourself and everyone around you. For more on how to bring heart-centered principles into your everyday life, we have a collection of books to help guide you. You can also continue your exploration of heart-centered principles by reading the articles on our blog. We offer business consulting and personal and parenting coaching, as well as workshops and courses. 

If these words and ideas truly resonate with you and make your heart and soul sing, visit us online and join the revolution!

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Heart-Centered Revolutions is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to making a world that works for everyone. 

How to Practice Empathy Most Effectively

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Empathy is one of the most vital skills we can develop. Empathy is sorely needed in these times, and has been a cornerstone for all times. In its essence, empathy is the ability to place oneself inside of someone else’s experience. There are many ways to practice empathy, but the most effective way I’ve found is to feel into the other by imagining that I am actually in the other person’s body. This process gives me the feeling of empathy as well as the sense of being in their shoes, thinking the way they do about a particular situation. 

Perceptual Positions

The Perceptual Positions Practice comes out of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), and is a clear and valuable guide to cultivate the empathy skills outlined above. As a Process Coach for 18 years, my cohort and I used this tool as a foundation for developing empathy and rapport amongst ourselves and with clients. 

There are four basic perceptual positions. They each line up with the first four parts of speech: 

  1. First position is the “I” or self position. In first position, you are looking out through your body and experiencing life as you typically experience it. To get a good sense of first position, feel into your body and your self, and narrow your awareness to experience the world through only your bodily senses.
  2. Second position is the “you” position. In second position, you are empathetically feeling into another person’s experience. In second position I imagine what it’s like to be you and feel and experience what you are experiencing. I extend my awareness to you and allow my sensations to feel what you are feeling. 
  3. Third position, “he/she/they,” is the observer position. In third position we are the observer. We are like a fly on the wall watching the whole interaction. In observer position, we are in a neutral third person position. I am not in my own body or your body. I am a fly on the wall watching the dynamic.
  4. Fourth position is the “we” position or field position. In field position, we are feeling the whole dynamic and are no longer neutral as we are in third position. We are looking out for the interests of everyone involved. I, as an individual, am identified with the whole field and in service to everyone in the dynamic. I care about what everyone is feeling and am attuned to it. 

The Fourth Position: Field Position

The most powerful place to anchor yourself is in field position. From field position you have access to all of the positions while being connected with the feelings in your heart. In a sense, the heart is an organ of the field: it senses, measures and responds to the whole body. Flexibility is essential in field position. There are no drawbacks to field position since it is a hybrid position and incorporates the benefits of all the other positions.

The Gifts and Drawbacks of Each Position

Self position is a great place to experience pleasure and joy. When we are in self position, we can drop into our experience more fully and immerse ourselves more deeply. Too much self position can lead one to becoming self-absorbed and unable to recognize the other. 

Going into second position is a wonderful way to experience empathy and compassion. We can sense and feel others as a way to become open to them in very profound ways. Too much other position can lead to enmeshment and a disconnection from self. 

Observer position is great for seeing things clearly and getting a sense of the dynamics at play. Too much observer position makes you removed from the situation and feels aloof to others. 

Field position is the most wonder-filled position of them all. To truly be in field position, we must retain the ability to shift into any of the other positions at any moment. Rather than staying squarely in the ever changing kaleidoscope of experience which is field position, we can flexibly move wherever we are called to move. With our awareness and focus, we can consciously feel into specific facets of our lives, whether inside of us or in the world around us.

The Perceptual Positions Practice:

Take a few moments to recall a recent situation you’ve experienced that matches the following criteria: an in-person, small to moderate disagreement or miscommunication. 

(Position names are capitalized here for ease of use.)

  1. Close your eyes and imagine the situation. From First Position, feel your body. Then take your awareness to the midpoint between your body and the other. You are watching the scene like a movie. Watch both people and notice the interaction. (Take a minute to replay the situation in as much detail as possible.)
  2. Return to your own body. When you look out, see the other person through your own eyes. Now replay the situation and notice everything you experienced at that time. What were you feeling, hearing, and seeing? (Take a minute in this position to re-experience it just the way you experienced it at the time.)
  3. Go back to the midpoint between the two of you (Observer Position) just for a moment so you can see both of you. As soon as you can see both of you, you are ready for the next step.
  4. Now you are going to place your awareness inside the other (Second Position). Do this first by getting right behind the other person and up close to them. Let your senses extend into the other person’s body so that you can feel and imagine in your own body what they are experiencing. When you look out, you see yourself through their eyes. As the other person, notice what you are feeling, hearing, and seeing. Experience the situation from their perspective as fully as possible. (Take a minute to get every detail of this experience.)
  5. Now return to the Observer Position. From the Observer Position, feel into the whole. You’ve been inside your own position and you’ve lived inside the other person’s experience. Now move into feeling the whole dynamic. This is the feeling observer position which we call Field Position. Replay the situation by feeling into the whole interaction and notice what you experience from here. Take a couple of minutes to glean everything you can from this experience.
  6. Jot down some notes or share your experience with someone who has experienced this process. 

The first time you do this, it’s good to talk to someone who can help ensure that you’ve experienced all four positions distinctly. After you’ve done it a couple of times, it’s easy to do on your own. Once you’re comfortable and adept at moving through this practice, the next step is learning how to move between the positions in real time as you are communicating. I make a practice of feeling into the other every time I start speaking, when I’m listening, and periodically as I’m speaking to gauge how effectively I’m communicating. I also feel for how well they are feeling into me or what position they are in primarily. I try to use my communication to help bring them into a deeper field position where they can access both empathy for me and can feel into the whole field more effectively. 

The Immense Power of this Practice

This practice has been the backbone of Bridging Worlds. I’ve used it innumerable times with autistic and developmentally disabled clients and been able to bridge to them and communicate with them more powerfully. Recently I used it with a client with Prader Willi Syndrome to help him adjust to new rules around his diet. By using this practice, we were able to help him move through a really difficult conversation with grace and ease. 

I also use this practice while coaching neurotypical adults. It allows me to support others even when they are having experiences that I haven’t personally experienced. As I was working with a client who is coming out of some narcissistic patterns of behavior, I was able to feel with him what it was like to come out of a defense pattern he had been using since childhood. Everything was so brand new to him that it was like he was learning to walk all over again. Even though I had never had this experience, I could feel it with him through using the perceptual positions practice. 

The practice of moving through the perceptual positions daily has given me deep and immense insight into what another is feeling at any given moment. By using it in every interaction I have, I continue to deepen and hone my ability to feel others. When you practice this exercise 1-3 times everyday, it becomes second nature to you to feel the other and the field in everything that you do. 

The Gift of Flexibility

When we are flexible with our perceptual positions, we are able to move easily to other positions. Similarly, when we are flexible in perspectives, we don’t get stuck in one point of view. Anchoring in field position allows us to move into other positions and self position at will. Field position gives us maximum flexibility. Remember that there is no wrong perceptual position to be in. They are all equally valid ways of experiencing reality. It’s a great practice to do when you are bored or annoyed by an interaction. When you start using perceptual positions, there’s always something interesting to discover in even the most mundane situation. 

It is my sincere hope that this article gives you a sense of how to actually deepen your ability with empathy. The awareness and practice of perceptual positions has been one of the single most transformative practices I’ve ever done. From the time I learned it, this practice has informed everything I do. I even named my first company Bridging Worlds Behavioral Services because I believe that when we put ourselves in the shoes of the other, we can truly bridge worlds.

Join the Revolution

To join Heart-Centered Revolutions and make a world that works for everyone, sign up for our mailing list. This act places you firmly at the center of our communication channels. By far, the best way to join this revolution, though, is to practice opening your heart and truly coming from unconditional love for yourself and everyone else around you. For more on how to bring heart-centered principles into your everyday life, we have a collection of books covering an assortment of topics. You can also continue your exploration of heart-centered principles by reading the articles on our blog. We offer business consulting and personal and parenting coaching.  We also offer workshops.  Register for them here.

Tell us what you thought about this article.  Like us on Facebook and share your thoughts. 

If these words and ideas truly resonate with you and make your heart and soul sing, visit us online and join the revolution!

Heart-Centered Revolutions is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to forging a world that works for everyone. We can’t do it alone – we need you!


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HCOS: One for All and All for One: the Heart’s Guiding Principle

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“All for one and one for all” is the ethic of the three musketeers, made popular in Alexander Dumas’ classic book, The Three Musketeers. I like to call this motto the Heart’s Guiding Principle. I’ve found that this motto holds true for any cohesive group who works exceptionally well together. When everyone keeps in mind the best interests of each individual along with the good of everyone, you have a foolproof ethic to work together in a way that will support the highest overall potential. This Heart’s Guiding Principle rests at the very core of the Heart-Centered Operating System (HSOC), a system specifically designed to put heart at the center of your company and all of humanity. 

Working for the Good of All

If each one of us truly works for the good of all, we are working on behalf of all humanity and all life. The significance of our actions go far beyond ourselves or our specific group. If we could all do just one thing consistently, embodying this principle would make everything else in life fall into place. Dedication to the good of all is the bodhisattva way – the path that many saints and sages of the past and present have guided toward. 

I refer to working for the good of all as the Heart’s Guiding Principle because it is truly the way of the heart. The heart is the organ that unifies the entire body by pumping out and receiving in blood in an endless cycle of give and take. The heart touches each and every part of the body; the heart truly works for the good of all and fundamentally incorporates this principle and ethic in everything it does. Biologically, the heart desires that each individual part lives out its greatest potential on behalf of the whole. As a result of the heart’s profound role within our individual biology, the energetic significance of the heart has been explored and preached since the dawn of humanity. Search your heart deeply, and you will find the desire to serve the good of everyone. This is what love wants. When we commit to working for the good of the whole, this is the very heart of eternal love.  

Working for the Good of Each One

Every person matters, just as every drop of ocean water matters. Without this very drop, the ocean would not be the same ocean. Have you ever noticed how one person coming or not coming to an event completely changes the dynamic? Each person is a unique individual and also an integral part of the human race. 

In a healthy and heart-centered company, the company serves each person’s best interest as long as the individual upholds the values of the company. There is a circle of beneficial reciprocity built into each business’s Heart-Centered Operating System (HCOS). If an individual is struggling to uphold the values of the company, the company will likely cave into a form of enmeshment where the group martyrs itself for the individual. This is not healthy. A healthy group works for its own and everyone’s potential at the same time. The group does not sacrifice itself for one member.

One For All and All For One 

As I’ve looked more deeply into the origins of this famous quote, I discovered that “all for one and one for all” originates in Shakespeare’s poem, The Rape of Lucrece. He used it in the reverse order, “one for all or all for one we gage.” Here  is the full phrase.

The aim of all is but to nurse the life

With honor, wealth, and ease, in waning age;

And in this aim there is such thwarting strife,

That one for all, or all for one we gage;

As life for honor in fell battle’s rage;

Honor for wealth; and oft that wealth doth cost

The death of all, and all together lost.

Shakespeare uses these lines to encapsulate the meaning of life and show that taking this kind of stand for one’s values can be like waging a war for the soul. To truly dive into all that Shakespeare is saying would require a closer reading, and analysis than we have space for in this article. 

The ethic of “one for all and all for one” works best as the Heart’s Guiding Principle when phrased as Shakespeare wrote it. When the individual works for the good of the whole, it is necessary for the whole to work on behalf of the good of the individual. If an individual is lost in selfishness, it’s hard for the group to work for their selfishness. But when the individual is in faithful service to the whole, then it’s very easy to work for their good and embody the “all for one” ethic where the whole looks after the faithful one. 

Practice this Heart’s Guiding Principle in your life and work. As an individual, focus on the good of the whole. As a group, dedicate your efforts to work for the good of the faithful individual. Notice how it changes your work culture and everything you do. 

There are more articles on HCOS (Heart-Centered Operating System) here. For more information about HCOS and how to get consulting on it for your business click here. 

Heart-Centered Revolutions was created to lead humanity into an age of empathy and unconditional love. You’re invited to participate in the revolution through joining our mailing list for the newsletter  and enrolling in events or courses.

The best way to join this revolution, though, is to practice opening your heart with empathy and truly coming from unconditional love for yourself and everyone around you. For more on how to bring heart-centered principles into your everyday life, we have a collection of books to help guide you. You can also continue your exploration of heart-centered principles by reading the articles on our blog. We offer business consulting and personal and parenting coaching, as well as workshops and courses. 

If these words and ideas truly resonate with you and make your heart and soul sing, visit us online and join the revolution!

Heart-Centered Revolutions is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to making a world that works for everyone. 

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Opening to the Unknown

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“There’s only now
There’s only here
Give in to love
Or live in fear
No other path
No other way
No day but today”

– The character of Maureen in Jonathan Larson’s musical “Rent”

What do we really know anyway? Life is all about the great mystery. What is the purpose of existence? Humanity is constantly making maps of the universe, but why are we here? Despite all the science, philosophy, religion, and spirituality devoted to these questions, we don’t have any certain answers. So much of what we think we know for a fact rests upon the unknown. 

We pretend we know so we can avoid the tremendous uncertainty of not knowing. In our minds, we think we can work out what is yet to be revealed and experienced. However, the way of the world’s unfolding will always be several steps ahead of anything our mind can pre-conceive. Accessing the unknown through feeling helps us outmaneuver the limits of the mind and thinking. Feelings present the doorway to the unknown.

Actually, it’s more like entering the realm of feeling throws open the door to the unknown. When we feel, it’s like reaching our hand down into the grab bag at Halloween. We don’t know with our mind what’s inside, but we feel for it with our hands. What you feel right now in this very moment is unknown and has never been felt before. When you notice with curiosity and love, you open to these unknown sensations and allow them to flow through your body.  That is when you have life flowing in your body. 

The Modeling Mind

The mind models experience and makes maps. My mind says I’ve known this before. It’s morning and I’m working on the computer on one of my articles. It’s just like any other day in the past few months. When we live in the models in our mind like this, we lose touch with our actual experience of reality as it is right now. This day is new. This moment is new. This day may be like many other days, but this day is unique and special. I’ve never written this new combination of words this way before. My mind model can’t fully grasp this nuance. 

Experiencing Feelings

Experiencing feelings allows us to escape the limits of the modeling mind. Today is a completely different experience from any other day, unknown to me until this moment. This morning, I’ve already experienced what it is like to wake up to the fog and be a little tired from not sleeping as much as my body needs. Right now, I feel excited about digging deeper into this article. 

At this exact moment, I’m noticing how it feels to be typing and to be alive. I have two guests staying at my house. Remembering that feels different from the usual solitude I feel in the morning. Each and every moment is undiscovered in a similar way, when we are really paying attention to our experience. Even now, with my curiosity, something else has shifted. I’ve been feeling the slight pang of losing a website domain I had paid thousands of dollars for because of an administrative error. When I turned into the disagreeable feelings about the loss of this domain and embraced them, this loss loosened its hold over me, and I felt more acceptance and love.

Opening to the Unknown (A 30-Second Game)

  1. Welcome the unknown. Be open to what may come forward in the great mystery here.
  2. Notice how you are experiencing this moment right now is completely new.
  3. Drop out of the mental models saying you know what is happening in this very moment. Actually, you’ve never been here before. Open with curiosity to this moment as a completely new and different experience.
  4. Lovingly embrace this moment just as it is. 

Embrace the Unknown

When we embrace the unknown with our full love, we set in motion a chain reaction bringing love and empathy to everything we experience. This chain reaction engenders love for everything it touches. The deeper we feel, the more we can feel others. The vast unknown of feeling is a wondrous new territory to discover. By opening with loving curiosity to the realm of feeling, we have access to vast new layers of information about our experience. 

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Tell us what you thought about this article.  Like us on Facebook and share your thoughts. 

Continue your exploration of heart-centered principles with a new article on our blog every weekday. For more on how to bring heart-centered principles into your everyday life, we have a collection of books covering an assortment of topics. We also offer in-person workshops.  Register for them here.

If these words and ideas truly resonate with you and make your heart and soul sing, visit us online and join the revolution!

Heart-Centered Revolutions is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to forging a world that works for everyone. We can’t do it alone – we need you!

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Sensing Human Dynamics: Unlocking the Hidden Potential in the Field

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We are not given a guidebook or instruction manual for human interaction. Most of our understanding of social contexts arrives through learned behavior and the development of our intuition. We don’t learn how to deal with social interactions in school, nor do most of us receive any formal training in this field. Yet, social interactions are some of the most complex dynamics we will ever deal with. The ability to feel and sense “the field” gives us a moment to moment guide in how to navigate the challenges of each social interaction. In quantum physics, we conceive the universe as made up of particles and waves. The particles are the matter and the waves are the energy. In a social dynamic, each person is a particle, while the dynamic fluid movement of energy between the people interacting is the wave. This wave function is what we call the field. The field is the energy that moves through us and between us. Through opening our hearts, sensing, and feeling the energetic field of an interaction, we have vital information for how to navigate this world. Our feelings can help us sense and unlock the hidden potential in any interaction. In this article, we will outline the basics of how to  sense the field by getting in touch with and relating to our feelings, the truth, our bodies, and human dynamics.

The Power of Feeling

Feelings are not widely understood in our society. Philosopher David Hume said, “reason is and ought only to be the slave of passion.” He was speaking to the way in which our thought processes and decisions are driven and ruled by what we feel underneath. Our feelings include both feelings we’re aware and conscious of, along with those we are unaware and unconscious of. With so many layers of feeling that we aren’t fully aware of, there is immense power in understanding what drives our unconscious. Humans have been aware of the gap between the conscious and unconscious for eons. Shamen, oracles, and medicine men and women, as well as psychologists and therapists help us navigate our realms of knowing and knit together our vast identity. They have always used the realm of feeling to help with this.

We are not as rational as we like to think we are. For example, economists build their models on the assumption that human beings are not ‘rational actors’ and factor that in to govern how the economy works. Rational actors would simply weigh out events and consequences and act accordingly to what was logically best. Instead, human beings make decisions based on our feelings and intuitions about things. Social scientists have come to understand this principle as well, when predicting behavior of individuals in various settings. The advertising industry uses these principles to manipulate us into consuming what they want us to consume. Humans don’t follow logical systems. We generally go with what intuitively feels right to discern how we move through life. 

The power of feeling can be used to help align us and move us toward health. Our feelings and intuition always want what is best for us. They guide us to the truth of the heart and help us be more honest with ourselves so we can move through life in a more integrated way. 

The notion that we are not rational actors is in fact a fallacy. We have the choice to enter into a new paradigm of freedom and integration between our minds and our hearts where we recognize that decisions are made by the heart and the intuition for our best good, and that living our lives from this place is actually the most rational thing we could do.

The Body Knows the Truth

The human body is the great truth teller. The body cannot lie. Your mind can say, “my shoulders feel relaxed.” But if there’s tension in your shoulders, the body will show it. The mind may say, “I feel okay with this break up I’m having,” while the body continues to express and hold onto all of the sensations that the mind is refusing to acknowledge. In the book The Body Keeps the Score, author Bessel van der Kolk writes, “The greatest sources of our suffering are the lies we tell ourselves.” These lies cause suffering because the body only knows the truth. All of the lies we tell ourselves are stored somewhere in the body. 

Author and physician Gabor Mate’s book, When the Body Says No: The Hidden Cost of Stress, presents case after case of people carrying symptoms in their body, even when their mind has no idea what is occurring. Whatever the body feels will come up as a symptom, even if the mind denies its importance. The way we know the body is through sensations. Sensations are it’s great messenger. When we are honest with ourselves, our body feels more at ease, and we can have a better path to navigating our truth in this world. Honesty is simply good for our overall health. 

Feeling Sensations in our Body

We live in a culture that prioritizes the mind and emotions over the pure sensation of feeling. We often talk about what we’re feeling with emotional stories attached, such as “I feel sadness about breaking up with my partner,” or “I’m angry and anxious about losing my job.” Many of us have lost touch with the actual sensations these emotions are based on. Feelings are sensations we feel right now in the body. Anxiety is not a feeling, it’s a summary label of an emotion to describe the associated sensations. When we say, “I feel a fast moving sensation in the pit of my stomach when I think about not having a job,” we are describing a sensation. For some, the distinction between sensations and emotions is a completely new way to think about the complexities and nuances within feeling. The benefit of understanding this distinction is that it reconnects us to our actual experience of life, and not just our mind-made interpretations. 

Thought Verses Feeling Experiment

It’s important to do this exercise with your full attention, to understand the difference between thinking and feeling. Reading this exercise without experiencing it may not allow you to understand this essential difference.

  1. Focus on a rock, crystal, or small object near you. Do not touch the object. 
  2. Look at the object and get to know it by thinking about it. Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself:
    1. How was it made or formed? 
    2. What color is it? 
    3. What is its shape?
    4. Is it shiny or dull?
    5. Does it look smooth or rough?
    6. What do you think it will feel like in your hands?
  3. Let your mind about the object in any and all ways possible.
  4. Now enter the realm of feeling. Pick the object up in your hands and feel it.
  5. Close your eyes and feel the texture of it as you run your hand or fingers along its surface. Feel and explore every inch of the object.
  6. Take your time to get to know this object through your sense of touch by feeling it rather than seeing it. If you find yourself thinking about it, that’s okay. Simply acknowledge your thoughts and return to your focus to feeling the sensations of the object.
  7. Open your eyes now as you put down the object. Take a few moments to reflect on the difference between thinking about the object and feeling it. 
  8. What were your experiences like? What were the differences between thinking about and feeling the object?

Did you notice that when you are thinking, you are perceiving the world primarily through your mind, while when you are feeling you are sensing the object directly through your body? Feeling is a kinesthetic sense, while thinking comes in words and images from the auditory and visual centers of the body. I’m curious if you were able to drop out of your traditional way of thinking as you felt the object. For most of us, our thinking is so strong that even when we focus on sensation it can sometimes be hard to actually feel the sensations.

Feelings are:

  1. Sensations in the moment.
  2. Present right now.
  3. New – It can’t be something you knew from before, something that is not happening in the present moment, or something you’re not feeling. If it is something you think you already know, you’re actually just remembering it and thinking about feeling rather than directly feeling.
  4. Impossible to conceptualize. You can try, but they will always elude the concept.
  5. Hard to express in words. Poetry and music are the best ways to express feelings.
  7. An extremely powerful way of knowing and experiencing life. 

Note: In our mind dominated society, feelings are rarely fully experienced. Unless you are giving birth, present with someone dying, making love, or having some other peak experience with awareness, you may not be feeling. Oftentimes we think we are feeling because we are having emotions. But most of our emotions are simply a reaction to our thoughts. We are rarely experiencing the direct visceral bodily sensations of feeling. 

Exercise: Take Emotion, Find Feelings 

  1. Think of an emotion you’ve recently experienced. It could be anything: happiness, anger, grief, joy, or fear. Find where you feel the roots of this emotion in your body. A good place to look for it is anywhere between your neck and your buttocks.
  2. What does it feel like? Is it tight or loose? Moving or still? Warm or cool? Sharp or dull? Heavy or light? What are the sensations you experience? How does it really feel?
  3. Notice as you feel the sensations, you are now in touch with the direct felt sense of your experience.
  4. Accept all the sensations you are experiencing right now.
  5. Return to the original emotion you started with. What do you notice now?
  6. What is different? What is the same?
  7. Give yourself acceptance for all that you are experiencing right now. The emotions and sensations all get to be loved equally.

Perceptual Positions 

The Perceptual Positions Practice comes out of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), and is the most effective way I’ve experienced to cultivate our empathy skills. In the Process Coaching work I was a part of for 18 years, we used this tool as a foundation for developing empathy and rapport. 

There are four basic perceptual positions, which line up with the first four parts of speech: 

  1. First position is the “I” or self position. In first position, you are looking out through your body and experiencing life largely as you typically experience it. 
  2. The second position is the “you” or other position. In second position, we are empathetically feeling the other person’s experience. 
  3. Third position, “he/she/they,” is the observer position. In third position we are the observer. We are like a fly on the wall watching the whole interaction. In observer position, we are not in our own body, but we can see our own body as well as all the others in the dynamic from a neutral third person position. 
  4. Fourth position is the “we” position or field position. In field position, we are feeling the whole dynamic and no longer neutral as we are in the third position. We are looking out for the interests of everyone involved. 

Each position has its advantages and disadvantages. Field position is the most wonder-filled position of them all. To truly be in field position, we have to have the ability to shift to all the other positions as needed at any moment. So rather than staying in field position, which is an ever changing kaleidoscope of experience, we can flexibly move wherever we are called to move and feel more penetratingly into every facet of life in and around us. 

Sensing the Field

We all sense the field. When you walk in a room and feel the vibe of the room, you are sensing the field. Through the conscious use of field position, we can become even better at this. The better we get at feeling sensations in our own body, the better we can feel and sense into other people’s feelings as well as whole dynamics. This is best taught in person or online and is difficult to write about. If you’re interested in learning this, reach out to us. We offer individual coaching, and have a variety of online and in person courses which can teach you how to sense the field and read other’s feelings.

When someone speaks, you can feel in your own body whether or not their speech resonates as true. If you listen closely, you will either get a yes when it resonates or a no when it doesn’t resonate. Similarly, you can feel into a group and sense how harmonious and connected or how disconnected it is. When a group is very connected, there’s a feeling of warmth in the heart. When the group is disconnected, there’s often an unsettling feeling in the solar plexus. The exact sensations in your body will vary depending on what is happening. 

The ability to sense the field is the most powerful leadership skill one can develop. When we can read people and dynamics accurately, and lovingly tend to them, we have nearly everything we need to be a good leader. This ability can serve as a compass to guide our decisions in every interaction. The more perceptive we are of human dynamics, the better we are able to navigate the complex social structures of our human world. I’m so grateful for the heart’s ability to feel and sense what is happening in the moment. With this guiding light, I find it much easier to find my way through even the most challenging situations. 

Join the Revolution

Adam Bulbulia is the author of three books on the topics of unconditional love, nurture being, and authenticity – all of which are available on Amazon. His upcoming book, Parenting from the Heart: A Guide to Create a Family Culture that Works for Everyone, is expected to be published next year. 

As you continue your exploration of heart-centered principles, we invite you to read other articles on our blog. We also offer parent coaching, personal coaching, and business consulting.  Tell us what you thought about this article.  Like us on Facebook and share your thoughts. 

To join Heart-Centered Revolutions and make a world that works for everyone, sign up for our mailing list. The best way to join our revolution though is to practice opening your heart and truly coming from empathy and unconditional love for yourself and everyone around you. 

Heart-Centered Revolutions is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to making a world that works for everyone. We can’t do it alone – we need you to join the revolution! 

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Loving Our Way Out of Narcissism

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Narcissism and excessive interest in oneself is one of the biggest problems threatening humanity at this time. We could also call it malignant egotism or as author Paul Levy calls it, “malignant egophrenia,” in his book Dispelling Wetiko: Breaking the Curse of Evil. Narcissism is embedded in many aspects of our economy, our political system, our work, our families, and even intimate relationships. The world is suffering under an all “me, me, me” attitude with little to no “we” or “us” thinking. Our species has been overtaken by a force which only thinks about itself, consuming with no regard for all life on earth. I asked myself, “What then is the way out of all this selfishness?” The only way I know to break out is through loving the ego and accepting what is. 

In a way, it makes sense that everyone has the tendency to take things personally and get lost in self-absorption. Some self-focus is inevitable, of course. We see through our own eyes only, not another person’s or animals’ eyes. Some of us are able to practice empathy more successfully while some of us can easily share and feel the feelings of another. Some of us move out of the ego entrenchment of self importance without difficulty while others may struggle to put ourselves in the shoes of another and practice empathy. 

Trapped in Ego

We could say anyone who has not awakened fully to themselves is, in some ways, trapped in egotism. Most humans on this planet are stuck in some form of ego identity which is consuming them. The first step is to move away from viewing ego identity as abnormal and pathologizing this current condition. We can more easily change our current state when we simply accept it as it is. For example, if we accept that we are living in the state or country we are living in, then it becomes simple to move to another. When we accept the psychological state we are in, it becomes much easier to move to another state of being. 

Let’s wake up to who we really are as fast as we possibly can. The best way to do this is to let go of any guilt we are carrying about our personal level of self-absorption. We all have this guilt because we are all self-absorbed to some degree. It’s really no big deal. Don’t take this having an ego thing so damn personally. That last sentence is a bit of a joke because the ego takes everything personally, which is how it traps us.  The ego will continue to take things personally. Our work is to allow the ego to be the way it is, and not mind so much when it is activated and seeing the way life is happening to it from a self-centered position. We can intentionally center our life in the service of all beings. When we find ourselves in a place of self-absorption, we can simply return to our heart and open to the love. This gets us back on the horse of our deeper being and riding on our destiny path. 

Take the Ego Universally

Once we stop taking the phenomenon of taking things personally so personally, we can accept ego universally as a representation of where humanity is right now. What if most or all of the human beings on the planet could wake up to who we really are together? Imagine a world where we end oppression and suffering for humanity. This would be a truly, never-before-experienced Great Awakening which would eclipse any other movements currently underway within human consciousness. 

End Narcissism by Loving the Ego 

The act of loving instead of denying our ego sets the antidote to narcissism in motion. When we embrace our ego with love, there’s no power compelling us to ego identify. The ego perpetuates its separateness by continuing the story that it will always be disconnected. We end this separation by knitting the ego together with the being through love in the moment. This must be a continual process and not simply a one-time event. By continuing to embrace and accept the ego in all its separateness, we become the one whole being that we truly are. We become interconnected with all that is.

I know that in many ways I’m simplifying the complex topic of narcissism. I understand that clinically diagnosable narcissism is not easily overcome. I believe that even the most ingrained form of narcissism can be treated if the person is willing to open their hearts and be vulnerable. However, this article is focused on the ego absorption tendencies that we all have toward narcissistic behavior. 

Simply Accepting Where Humanity Is

Instead of viewing humanity’s malignant ego identification as a problem, we have to accept that this is simply where we are as a species. Once we fully accept this tendency in ourselves, we will no longer be identified with it. It’s time to end our selfish games and play a game that works for the good of all. Let’s join together to start a revolution in the heart of each individual and all of humanity so love truly prevails on planet earth and we can finally all feel honored to be a part of the human race. 

Join the Revolution

To join Heart-Centered Revolutions and forge a world that works for everyone, sign up for our mailing list. This act places you firmly at the center of our communication channels. By far, the best way to join this revolution, though, is to practice opening your heart and truly coming from unconditional love for yourself and everyone else around you. For more on how to bring heart-centered principles into your everyday life, we have a collection of books covering an assortment of topics. You can also continue your exploration of heart-centered principles by reading the articles on our blog. We also offer in-person workshops.  Register for them here.

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If these words and ideas truly resonate with you and make your heart and soul sing, visit us online and join the revolution!

Heart-Centered Revolutions is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to forging a world that works for everyone. We can’t do it alone – we need you!

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Born to Feel

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I was born with a rare gift. I think everyone has at least one gift. I happen to have extremely deep access to feeling. As a child, I would have rather been gifted with extreme skill as a basketball player. I could see how that gift was valued by society. I thought I got the short end of the stick with feeling. Now, I can recognize and better appreciate my aptitude for accessing feelings. This ability allows me to be very good at empathy with others. For me, empathy is the ability to open your heart and be in feelings with both another and yourself. 

For me, I experience empathy through subtle and intense bodily sensations. I’m showered with a constant array of stimuli. Every tendril of my being is connected with every person I’ve ever met, every animal or plant I’ve had a significant interaction with, and all the heavenly bodies which shine down on us day and night. These connectors communicate through feeling. As a child, I felt connected to the insects my brother and father stepped on, and it hurt me physically. My heart broke everyday with the intense bullying at my elementary school. I wasn’t the target, but I hated it all the same. It’s difficult to paint with words how fully I feel every experience. It hurts me when a bug shatters on the windshield while I’m driving. When I see the stars shining in the sky, it warms my heart. The birds flying through the air inspire me. When I’m interacting with other people, I feel so much. It’s like I’m a live wire of feeling. And, the feelings give me so much information. I’m like a radio tower picking up the transmission of so many radio stations at the same time. I’m open like a sponge. I absorb everything around me and it goes directly into my open heart like a sponge.

Through sharing my personal story, I hope to inspire you and others about the importance of feeling. I believe that I’m meant to be a spokesperson for this ability. The ability to feel should be valued among any of the highest human virtues. It is my hope that this story lights a spark in you to recognize your own subtle and sensitive gifts of feeling. May we all learn together to feel more deeply and love more completely.

The Gift and Curse of Feeling 

At times I thought I was born with a curse. Sometimes I wished I had never been born at all. This world was so cruel and it felt so harsh to me. I just didn’t understand why the world was this way. I couldn’t understand how people could treat each other the way they did at my elementary school and in the world. Even as a child I would often wonder to myself, “Why were they acting so heartlessly?” 

My family made sense for the most part. They were loving. They were lost, too, but we all cared about each other deeply. In general, the world just felt so wrong to my young, open heart. For a long time I wondered in confusion, ignorance, and pain about how this could be. How could life be so abysmal on planet earth? Yet some strange optimism carried my sails like a kind wind blessing a stranded ship with the grace of forward movement toward my destiny. In spite of all the unreasonable pain and stupid, pointless cruelty, I sailed calmly on while feeling it all. The seas got very rough in many spots and yet there was an inner knowing that sustained me through all the terrible and immense changes which would come. Thank God for this profound peace amidst the chaos.

Awakenings

It was in early 1996 when the first inkling of an awakening began. It felt like a splash of cosmic cold water in the face which invigorated me with new life. This culminated in an experience I had in 2020 during the Winter Solstice which I call the “Great Awakening.” My Great Awakening was like a cosmic, loving scream which made everything within me shake, tremble, and realign with love from the foundation up. 

Even as awake as I am, I’m still just waking up little by little every day. Each moment I wake up to a slightly deeper layer of feeling. Every day I feel a little more free from the collective trance and slumber I believe we’ve all been under. 

In 2020, I started to have a tiny inkling of the immensity of this gift and curse of feeling which I was born with. It took until 2021 for me to have an idea of where this was all going. In the days and months after my Great Awakening, I began to realize that my ability to feel is a superpower. I can’t fly like Superman or turn invisible like the Invisible Woman, but I can feel when someone is lying to me or judging me in the most minute way. I can feel when someone is lying to themselves. I can feel when someone turns against me from several miles away. I can sense when someone moves away from what is true to their heart and soul, the split second they leave themselves. I’m nearly always dead accurate because I can feel it. 

My Superpower

These sweet sensations and feelings in my body give me all sorts of gifts. They tell me when people are lying to me and tell me when they are lying to themselves. When they are lying to themselves, their words sound flat. Their tone doesn’t resonate. They feel thin and hollow. This feeling helps me to discern whether I’m off the mark or on target as well. My feelings show me when I’m lying to myself. I ask myself, “Is this the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?” This way of feeling helps me to tune to the environment and love all my relations. The discernment my heart has here is quite beyond anything I ever thought was possible. I was extremely skeptical of my heart sensing capacity for a long time. I even kept doubting it until I repeatedly experienced what I discerned was actually very accurate.

This gift of feeling has been a guiding light. It’s a north star to my heart which  shines among all other things. Feeling has been my guardian angel, carrying me through the intense soul darkness of this weary world with a protective, angelic light. This shining star of feeling helps me to love others with deep and profound empathy everyday. 

In our society, my capacity to feel has in many ways been a curse that has brought about intense alienation. When I have sensed things inside of others that they didn’t want me to know about or couldn’t face themselves, they have gotten angry and intolerant of my honesty. Many people have denied my truth and been unable to recognize it as accurate. They believe I can’t possibly know the things I know about them. They think I’m full of myself, deluded, insane, or just plain wrong. And yet, those who know me understand how I really am. 

My heart bleeds everyday for the people who have cut themselves off from me. Some of the people I love the most have brutally and coldly cut the strands which connect my heart to theirs. My former fiancee is out of my life now, as is my greatest mentor, many of my seemingly supportive work colleagues, and numerous people who I had counted amongst my best friends. 

I love in an unusual way. This is an understatement. I love in a way that I feel hasn’t ever been seen before on planet earth. This is not because I am any better than anyone else. In fact, I’m no better or worse than anyone else. I am, however, more intense than anyone else I’ve ever met in the commitment to feeling and opening the heart. I’m radical and I go off roads and I entertain possibilities that most people would dismiss or be afraid of. 

There have been many great lovers of all of humanity. The way I love rests upon the great teachers of humanity like Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Mohammed, Rudolf Steiner, Carl Jung, William Shakespeare, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Martin Luther King Jr, Fredrich Douglass, Terry Tempest Williams, Greta Thunberg, and Alanis Morissett. I owe so much to all these great teachers. I would not be where I am today without all the great human beings who have walked this wisdom path of the heart. I continuously strive to be as profoundly loving as they were and are. I do not care about fame or being remembered, I only care about the earth, humanity, and all of the universe. I keep learning and never close my heart to anyone or anything. I don’t put myself above or below anyone. I simply keep loving. 

My Wish for All of Humanity

Sometimes in the past, I’ve wished I could close my heart and not be cursed to feel so much pain. Now, I celebrate this gift of feeling as a profound kind of open heartedness which I want to share with every human being on the planet and with all the other relations both on this earth and beyond. I’m open to every being I come into contact with. 

I’m deeply honest and defer to anyone who knows more than me in any area. I’m not an expert in many things. My spatial awareness skills are shaky at best. I’m not great at spelling. My handwriting leaves much to be desired. I wish I was a better musician than I am. I’m not a great singer. My organizational skills are moderate at best. There are so many more things I could learn more deeply. 

My abilities to feel, open my heart, and do empathy are truly exceptional compared with most people on this planet. When I played sports growing up, I always knew who were the best basketball, football, and frisbee players when we were picking teams. I was masterful at honestly assessing my skills. I always practiced assessing as accurately and objectively as possible. I carefully assessed the skills of all those around me and rated myself along with them. Sometimes I was the worst, and other times I was the best depending on who I was playing with. Most of the time I was somewhere in the middle of the pack. I was a good athlete, but not a great athlete. 

In terms of the heart-centered skills, I know that I could be better than I am currently at all of them. I have already learned a lot, but I continue seeking to be more open hearted, empathic, feeling, and loving everyday that I live. So far, I’d say that I’ve developed roughly 5% to 10% of my capacities. In my assessment, most people I encounter are at about 1% to 2% of what they are capable of. I seek to continue learning the way of feeling with each passing life experience.

It’s so sad that many of us have closed our hearts to our feelings. I understand it, though. Feeling is a double-edged sword in this society. Sensitivity to feeling can give you amazing access to your intuition. This awareness will also makes you painfully aware of all the cruelty and lies that exist in this world. The gift of feeling has not always been easy for me, and yet I believe it is the greatest gift I could have ever asked for on my particular life path. If my hypothesis is correct and possible, then together we can restore the heart and soul to humanity.

I believe the hidden potential in feeling is the carrier wave for a change so profound and deep that it will one day reach across this globe and save humanity. When every human heart on this planet is open to feeling, the joy of living will erupt throughout the whole world. The force of the miraculous lies hidden in the power of unfelt feelings. All life will be an eternal celebration of this joy that has no opposite. When everyone has their life the way they really want it, we can have a true heaven on earth. 

My charge to humanity is really quite simple: accept everything you feel and you will be able to accept everything that everyone else feels. Another way of coming at this is equally simple. Just accept everything you feel in your heart and cut the crap. It’s time to wake up! We don’t have much time to waste. If you truly care about existence, join me in this Great Awakening. Sometimes I feel like an unheard voice crying in the wilderness. That’s the literal translation of “Vox Clamantis In Deserto,” and the motto at my alma mater, Dartmouth College. This quote also feels like my motto. My hope is that this cry which has begun in the wilderness will serve as an inspired awakening call to rouse us all before it’s too late for our species to awaken and change the current feelingless trajectory.

We live in days where we have to believe in miracles or we will face the doom of the human race. My gifts can open the doorway to the miraculous for you and all of humanity. If you follow me on the path to learning how to love feelings, your life will be forever changed. Everything you’ve dreamed of is hidden in the potential of your heart. When you feel, you unlock the door to your heart. So many treasures await you here.

Come! Join us on the journey!

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Continue your exploration of heart-centered principles with a new article on our blog every weekday. For more on how to bring heart-centered principles into your everyday life, we have a collection of books covering an assortment of topics. We also offer in-person workshops.  Register for them here.

If these words and ideas truly resonate with you and make your heart and soul sing, visit us online and join the revolution!

Heart-Centered Revolutions is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to forging a world that works for everyone. We can’t do it alone – we need you!

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The Bridging Worlds Experience: A Truly Revolutionary Work Culture 

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Imagine a company that works for the best interests of all its employees while also serving the best interests of all their clients. So many companies say they do this. At Bridging Worlds Behavioral Services we’ve actually created a company culture in service to the evolution of each individual’s greatest potential. Primarily, we use empathy to support each person’s highest potential and discover how we can best support them. 

Supporting an employee’s growth must be a mutual agreement where both parties have said “yes” to a path of healing and transformation. Just like a seed sprouting into a flower or a grain of sand transforming into a pearl, there are challenging and uncomfortable points in this journey. At Bridging Worlds we choose to get out of our comfort zones and lean into the edges of our own individual growth. A large part of our process is honoring the truth of who and where we authentically are. With loving acceptance, we grow and evolve ourselves which in turn inspires our clients and families to pursue their own limitless potential.

The path to leadership is one that calls for a learner’s mindset, an open heart, daily practice, and experience. We believe we are all natural born leaders in our own way, as is stated in one of our company values, Leaders Take Responsibility: We work for the good of the whole for our clients, families, and company.

At Bridging Worlds we take into consideration how much or how little experience a person has in leadership as well as how capable the person is at practicing empathy and living from an open heart. 

We Welcome Whole Human Beings

When you bring all that you are to work, you bring your whole human being. We welcome your issues as well as your gifts. After all, our issues and conflicts are healthy ways the universe presents opportunities to grow and evolve in knowing who we are. We are meant to bring our whole being wherever we go. That’s the way work is truly meant to be: a balanced integration of our whole being instead of a compartmentalized version of our self. 

We Place the Heart at the Center of Everything

We practice using our hearts and minds when making decisions and choosing how to respond to someone or something. We feel for what to do and we care about everyone and everything our organization is connected to. Heart-centered is a way of being where we lead from our hearts and nurture a deep and sustaining connection with our own feelings as well as others’ feelings. 

Maintaining awareness of our heart-center is a daily practice. Cultivating heart-centeredness is a skill that is strengthened in the most challenging of times. The ability to hold our own self or another in unconditional love without any judgment, even when we are angry or hurt, is a powerful act of heart-centeredness. It is through these more challenging times that we cultivate the strength, resilience, and ability to come from a deeper place in our heart. 

We Love Our Clients

We strive to channel unconditional love in every action we do with our clients and each other. We support our clients in growing and learning in ways that serve their whole being, nurturing their greatest potential. Whatever goal they may want to achieve, whatever issue that may be showing up in their life, we seek the best way to act as a bridge so their communications and interactions in the world can be best understood. Our shared goal is that there is an improvement in their quality of life, and things that may have seemed impossible before are developing into new possibilities and outcomes.

A story that comes to mind involves one of our team members named Brian and a client. The client’s hope is to live in a sustainable community one day. His goal had always seemed to be too far out of reach, however Brian helped him remain open to future possibilities that went outside the limits society, family, and other workers had previously placed on him. Brian devoted himself to supporting this client in feeling more empowered to continue working toward creating and living the lifestyle he had always wanted. We support our clients and each other by encouraging the belief that there are more roads than roadblocks.

We Value Self-Care

Self-care is central in our work culture. Our work is in service to our clients and families, and when self-care is our highest value we are able to give and receive from a full heart. It’s only through putting on our own oxygen masks first that we can help others. This is the wisdom we learn when we fly on a commercial airline, and it also holds true for work, parenting, and everything we do in life. The conditioned work culture can oftentimes push people to work past their limits resulting in sickness and burnout. At Bridging Worlds we encourage the use of a skill set that includes responsible time management, getting things done, and self-care all in balance with one another. We call this heart-centered prioritization. We all deserve to feel like our needs are being met, and that we are living a life that brings us the most joy. We practice this as a team and influence our clients and families to do the same. 

One of the elements that makes Bridging Worlds unique is that we provide a special benefit in support of self-care. We offer a self-care reimbursement once a month to help revitalize and bring balance into each of our employees’ lives. Our company is fueled by the service of our staff. The more we remember to take care of our own self, the more love and energy we have to share with others. It’s like the old saying goes: we must fill our own cup before we can share our abundance with those whom we serve.

We Value Empathy

Every time we communicate, we strive to use empathy to understand each other. It’s simply a way of taking in information with feeling. When we feel for someone and attempt to understand them or the situation they are in from their perspective, we are profoundly loving and accepting in our communication. This empathic work culture makes us extremely unique. It’s our goal to make empathy as common as breathing. It’s our heartbeat and the star at the center of our whole system.

Empathy is the answer to many of the problems we experience in our world today. If we all practiced a little more empathy with those who have opposing opinions or differences in lifestyle, the more understanding we would have for each other. This would help to restore the balance needed in our communities and connections. 

We Are Uniquely Authentic

We don’t hide from who we are. We embrace all that we feel and bring loving acceptance into both the good times and the tough times. We hold nothing back from life. Our interview process is based on radical authenticity, and we vet potential new team members by being uniquely honest and real. This authenticity, empathy, and connection is the fusion needed for creating a world that works for everyone. We are co-creating this world together, and by applying these practices we are able to honor sovereignty and unity in service to the greatest good for all involved.

There’s a sacred way we co-create harmony all together. We have our differences in opinions and approaches to lifestyles, and yet we are still able to find a place where we connect on the existing commonalities we share. We take responsibility for our own self, and respect others taking responsibility for their part. We practice maintaining a balance by holding boundaries from our heart’s truth, and also remaining open to others and their truth. We then find the best solution to each problem that may arise.

We Treasure All Our Relations

We value Mother Earth and keeping our waters pure, and we carry this awareness in all that we do within our company events, client sessions, and meetings. The connection we strive to build includes and goes beyond human to human. We understand that we are co-creating and cohabitating with all life that is a part of our past, present, and future world.

Spending time in nature and learning from nature is a shared value within our company. We encourage each other, our clients, and families to take time connecting with nature and learning from its natural rhythms and patterns. This practice supports each of us to embrace our own individual contributions to humanity and to live to our greatest potential.

We Are Passionate with the Spirit of Play  

Our work culture is infused with the spirit of play. If you watch a child, you’ll notice the way they engage with everything through play. When we connect with our sense of play, everything in life flows well. We are more able to approach life from a learner’s perspective, and remove obstacles focused on doing things the “right” way. In doing so, we find ourselves surprised by the new heights we are able to reach. 

We Work for the Good of All 

“One for all and all for one” is a guiding motto we appreciate. We prefer to say it in the order Shakespeare originally crafted it with the one for all first. When each person works for the good of all, then, in turn, the whole group looks out for the good of each and every individual. This is the recipe to true community and love in humanity that we’ve learned from our ancient ancestors. 

When we all align in the unity of wanting to provide heart-centered services to clients and families, we feel the higher purpose of why we are all working together. We remember that we are in service to something that is greater than ourselves, that can have a positive effect on our own life, and all lives of those around us. It is looking out for the greatest good for all involved. There is a lovely quote by the philosopher Osho that captures the essence of this quite beautifully, “It is like a flower, whose wholeness is even more beautiful than the sum of its parts, at the same time enhancing the beauty of each individual petal.”

We are forging a world that works for everyone, one client at a time, one family at a time, one conversation at a time. It is through the healing power of the heart that we restore this balance and justice in our communities and nurture profound connections.

If this resonates with you, come learn more about our work culture at Bridging Worlds Behavioral Services. You can join our mailing list and please like us on Facebook. If you find value in our work, we appreciate it if you’ll share our articles and website with friends and other social platforms. This will help us to grow and reach more people in need of our services. 

Heart-Centered Revolutions was created to lead humanity into an age of empathy and unconditional love. You’re invited to participate in the revolution through joining our mailing list for the newsletter  and enrolling in events or courses.

The best way to join this revolution, though, is to practice opening your heart with empathy and truly coming from unconditional love for yourself and everyone around you. For more on how to bring heart-centered principles into your everyday life, we have a collection of books to help guide you. You can also continue your exploration of heart-centered principles by reading the articles on our blog. We offer business consulting and personal and parenting coaching, as well as workshops and courses. 

If these words and ideas truly resonate with you and make your heart and soul sing, visit us online and join the revolution!

Heart-Centered Revolutions is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to making a world that works for everyone. 

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The Many Miracles of the Heart

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Opening the heart is the doorway to the miraculous. Heart-Centered Revolutions’ purpose is to bring the miracles of the heart to each person – one conversation at a time, one heart at a time. When we feel into an experience fully and completely, it will shift in profound ways which we don’t always understand. When we open the heart up to an imbalance, we have the power to discover the true medicine. The miraculous healing power of heart energy can create a wave that sweeps across the entire globe. Riding on the wings of unconditional eternal love, all of our dreams are possible. Unconditional love has the power to bring healing to our deepest pain and alienation. When we let ourselves fully feel what we feel, healing opens up. 

The Miracle of Feeling

The act of feeling is the miraculous element which makes us uniquely human.  Feeling means to truly open your heart to the direct and profound experience of life coursing through your veins. When we as humans open our hearts, we become capable of performing things in this Universe that scarcely any others can do. We have the potential to steward all other life on this planet in a way that no other species is capable of. The power of the heart has been sung about, and so many poems have been written about it. Yet we are, for the most part, unable to tap into the heart’s true power and purpose. Feeling is the doorway to unlock this true potential.  

The heart is meant to love. When everything we feel is bathed in the waters of unconditional love for each moment, then our life becomes a living, moving miracle. Every moment is a new and profound creation which brings us more and more fulfillment and joy. When sorrow comes, we can embrace the sorrow and it helps us open our hearts even more.

The Miracle of Empathy

When we embrace the miraculous healing balm of empathy, only then shall love radiate out beyond anything we’ve ever seen. Empathy is a way of knowing another through feeling them. Empathy is a way of sensing the other. We can look at them, listen to them and feel them. When we engage all our senses in the service of perceiving the other we maximize our empathy. Empathy is so powerful I believe it has the power to replace most modes of therapy when people learn to fully practice it. Only when empathy extends as naturally from the human body as breathing does shall true love prevail on earth. This empathy will remake the world in the image of love. We shall have the world of our dreams, as John Lennon sang about in his song, “Imagine.” 

The Miracle of Romantic Love

We can all have the love we’ve always longed for. We can have a romantic partnership which truly fulfills our deepest and wildest dreams. We are meant to have the fulfillment of every one of our heart’s true desires. We can only have everything we really want once we believe it is possible. Not only must we believe it’s possible, but we must learn to love ourselves completely. We want to learn to love ourselves the way we ache for a romantic partner to care for us. Then, manifesting your heart’s desires becomes inevitable. When you pave the way with your own self-love, you set a force in motion that compels the universe to follow your lead. 

Learning Through Pain

Sometimes we all experience pain. Pain can be a great and powerful teacher. Through opening to the pain and heartbreak when it comes, we maximize our potential. The heart naturally trusts in our path. Through following our heart wherever it takes us we will naturally find ourselves opening to deeper, wider, and higher levels of unconditional love.

Faith in Love

We all have placed our faith in fear, in one way or another. We believe that life on earth has to be this way. We’ve resigned ourselves to accept the limitations we place on ourselves out of fear that it can’t be any different. Until we plant our full faith in love, we will have elements of a nightmarish world of fear. When we believe the voice of fear, it saps our energy and seduces us into a reality of lack, scarcity, and endless sorrow. When we plant our faith in love, we believe that anything is possible. We know that whatever we truly desire in our hearts is not only likely but inevitable. 

One day all our desires will be fulfilled, until the new ones come along. This is how love works. We get to keep unfolding ourselves in love. Love is what knits the universe together. The light of the stars is the love of all things. When we learn to embrace the Light into our heart and use the Light fully in our lives, only then will we have everything we desire. Desire is the force inside that impels us to our next step. Through honoring our true desires the miracles of the heart unfold before us. 

The miracles of the heart are available all around us every moment of life. Choose to center your awareness in your heart, live life from the fullness of your love, and we shall create a world that works for everyone. In the words of author Charles Dickens’s character Tiny Tim, “God bless us everyone.” In this context, this quote speaks to the force of the Great Mother that is always with us. Through waking ourselves up to the great power of the Light that is within us, together we can make a world that works for everyone.  

When we understand the miraculous nature of our being, we fulfill our true potential on earth. We are a miracle! The doorway to the divine is within us. When we live as if we’re ordinary, we block our potential and throw away the miracle that we are. When we live as if we’re a miracle, which means embodying the shining star that we are, our destiny unfolds in its true and full way. We must come together. We must come together for us to continue to exist as a species. Heart-Centered Revolutions is here to help humanity claim its true essence and liberation, and to celebrate its beauty and wonder.

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If these words resonate for you, join the revolution. We have more articles to read on our website and there are several books and options for individual and group work to bring these principles into your everyday life. If you’d like to connect with me, I’m on Facebook at Heart-Centered Revolutions and you can contact me here.

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Continue your exploration of heart-centered principles with a new article on our blog every weekday. For more on how to bring heart-centered principles into your everyday life, we have a collection of books covering an assortment of topics. We also offer in-person workshops.  Register for them here.

If these words and ideas truly resonate with you and make your soul sing, visit us online and join the revolution!

Heart-Centered Revolutions is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to forging a world that works for everyone. We can’t do it alone – we need you!

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A Future that Succeeds

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We can feel into the idea that a beautiful future can happen. This is a place where we have found solutions to climate change and adaptations to thrive. We are socially dynamic and harmonious, and we have discovered new ways to be healthier and live longer with great vitality. We experience sensuous, deep spiritual connection within ourselves, with others, and even with those with which we face conflict.

We are inextricably connected with all of life as we know it. But it is not a visionary idealistic utopia. It is not a fever dream of perfection or cryptic new age ascension. It is a future that exists in the bow wave of our present heart’s desires and dreams. It is us, and it is really awaiting our arrival when we will merge with our future selves that somehow already inhabit that future yet to come. 

From There to Here

As we feel into this future, we can discover what it is that led us to getting there. We can backlight the steps that got us there. We can remember things yet to come. And we may discover a common denominator that made all the difference. That little thing that was so simple, yet so elusive. That little thing was just awakening our natural, integrative power to really feel as deeply as is humanly possible.

But to avail ourselves of this great gift and power we all have innately within us, we needed to find the humility and passion to evolve it. We had to source the fortitude to practice it, and face what was in the way of its blossoming.

Responsive Feeling

The act of feeling itself is an act of open beingness and connectedness with whatever there is to feel. Feeling can be fully receptive, where one feels the energy of something or someone, or even an idea outside of what feels like is now nearly part of yourself. It may be that feeling is ultimately always a receptive experience, and that the key is open heartedness.

When we ‘own’ a feeling, whether from within our sense of self or beyond it, it brings us beyond the witness state into a living dialog. We can react to receiving sensations with responsive sensations. We might respond to anger with the feeling associated with forgiveness. We may respond to feeling someone’s fear with courage, caring, and nurturing. We may respond to feeling someone’s hurt with the expression of empathy and love. If we lose ourselves in the intensity of what we are receiving from outside of ourselves we might just join in and amplify that energy—good or bad. 

Feeling What Is as a Bridge to What Can Be

When it comes to the trending future, we must take the lead when and where we can, and not simply succumb to the downtrends. The key to it all is openness and willingness to experience feeling however it presents itself, but do that from a resilient centeredness within our own heart. We must accept the energy for what it is and how it feels, but also possibly respond to its call to action. While it is important to be intimate with feeling rather than distancing ourselves from pain, it is as important to know and feel our feeling heart separate from it. We can both accept the truth of the pain and also our loving response to what we are feeling.

We express our love by both accepting the innate truth any feeling has on offer, and also respond with a call to action to usefully respond. The call to action to feel a future that succeeds surely includes feeling the likelihood of a future that does not, but also feel the future that we want and dream for. It is sometimes paradoxical, but our hearts actually live and thrive in the paradox between all that is disconnected and the great possibilities for connected unity. 

The mind is included and welcomed but not allowed to dominate, control, manipulate, force or conclude meaning before we have felt and experienced what there is to know. The mind can observe whatever the energy of feeling presents, and whatever thoughts arise to accompany and reflect around the feeling-energy.

To feel a future that succeeds means we must allow ourselves to see and feel the truth about what is not working, what is in the way of that future developing. In our capacity to feel the breakdowns can we respond to change the conditions that cause them. Then, we can, through our active response, slowly course-correct towards a dream future that averts a nightmare future or almost as bad, a mediocre future. 

A Productive Balance

The big takeaway here is that in a mind-centered society we are too quick to label, to judge, to categorize, to ascribe, and infer meaning onto what we can feel. The call to action is to simply imbibe the experience of direct feeling in an energetic way. We discover that our capacity for feeling is wider, deeper, and more real and nuanced than our minds and language could ever hope to put in a tidy mental box.

We discover the call to feeling bridges us into an experience of connected unity with our world unlike we ever thought possible. We discover that we can solve nearly impossible problems if we just invite all the capacities of both our mind and heart, in productive balance, to work together. That is the path to not just feel a future that succeeds but become the productive agencies of its becoming.

Heart-Centered Revolutions was created to lead humanity into an age of empathy and unconditional love. You’re invited to participate in the revolution through joining our mailing list for the newsletter  and enrolling in events or courses.

The best way to join this revolution, though, is to practice opening your heart with empathy and truly coming from unconditional love for yourself and everyone around you. For more on how to bring heart-centered principles into your everyday life, we have a collection of books to help guide you. You can also continue your exploration of heart-centered principles by reading the articles on our blog. We offer business consulting and personal and parenting coaching, as well as workshops and courses. 

If these words and ideas truly resonate with you and make your heart and soul sing, visit us online and join the revolution!

Heart-Centered Revolutions is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to making a world that works for everyone. 

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