Have you ever been in a bad mood and then have one thing after the other go wrong?

I definitely have.

In fact, there’s one place where this ALWAYS happens “to” me….. it’s hiking.

If I’m hiking with other people, sometimes I can get annoyed with too much noise and chatty banter. After all, I’m in nature to appreciate the quiet beauty of the Alaska wilderness NOT fill up space with portable music or endless yakking… I mean, right?!?

When my mind gets into this mode, I get irritated and silently judge the innocent offender, sometimes in an endless monologue of “ugh, stop already. That’s so annoying. Arrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh.”
I get all wrapped up in these thoughts, repeating over and over…

And then I trip.

Without fail.

I trip on a root.
Or a rock.
Or even my own left foot.
This happens so often that I now take it as a sign to wake up and clean up my thoughts.

Tripping helps me realize that I’ve just created my own micro moment of hell out there amidst the flowers and the trees and the mountains.

It’s that very same moment I become awake to my thoughts that I get to consciously decide to step out of judgement and into being heart centered.

In other words, I can decide to:

• have compassion for the chatty person and for my judgy self
• focus on feelings of love, appreciation and gratitude for the person’s presence there with me in the glorious gift of the Alaska wilderness.
• become aware of the fleeting moment of perfection that we share knowing that it will soon pass, as all things must

And then I feel better. 
More patient.
More loving.

More me.

And I stop tripping!

Funny how that works….

To me, the term heart centered means:

• Noticing when I’m triggered and reframing my thoughts from a place of judgement to a place of compassion
• Taking action from an intention of serving
• Arriving at conversations and speaking from the heart without posturing, without guards. Just open and vulnerable
• Doing my work from a place of love instead of fear or lack

What does being heart centered mean for you?