Day 10. Nelson Mandela teaches us about keeping an open heart during lockdown

Lockdown time is, and can be, a very special time. It’s meant to bring everyone to a standstill. It’s a standstill – calling people to pay attention.

Disinfecting society

The reason is – in order to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus, everything, including schools, businesses, social get-togethers, church gatherings and workplaces are closed down.

It’s time to disinfect our hands and our homes, clean up and clean out our society and our lives.  We also need to clean out our hearts.

The question is: How do we do this?

Once again, we can learn from the Madiba-wisdom

Everything starts with the heart

The heart is at the center of everything. It’s at the center of our lifeforce, our physical existence. If the heart stops beating – you die. We also have the heart of a nation, a business a religion, a culture and of course – humanity. If the heart is contaminated and corrupted – the business, church, country ‘dies. It becomes ‘soulless’. 

What is in the heart – determines what the quality of life is.

There are only one of two possibilities; The open, healed, healthy heart and the closed, broken dark, depressed, abusive heart.

It’s a mindful, conscious choice in what direction you will go.

The question is: What are the outcomes of these two paths?

 The Closed heart

During his time in prison, Nelson Mandela had enough time to dwell on the injustices, discrimination and inequities inflicted by his adversaries.

The suffering of his people, created under the banner of ‘Christianity’ of the Afrikaner nation, could have led Madiba down the path of anger, bitterness, revenge and retaliation.  

Nelson Mandela could have closed off his heart and mind, harboring these thoughts and filling his heart with negativity that could fester and grow until everything is poisoned.  The closed heart is cold, hard, relentless, abusive, resentful and flourishes on the suffering of others.

Just imagine what the outcome would have been if Nelson Mandela had taken that path.

But, Madiba didn't take this low road. At some point during his lockdown – Madiba decided to keep an open heart. He took the high road. This too is our challenge ...

 The open heart

The open heart is a heart free from judgement and filled with love, understanding, compassion and forgiveness.  

It’s the healed heart, the whole heart or the ‘holy heart’. It’s a choice.

We too have the choice to keep and open heart. Only an open heart can keep the love, compassion, goodness and forgiveness, flowing. Happiness, success, prosperity and progress all start within the heart.

One of the important spiritual teachings is: ‘Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it’ [i]

Take care of your heart

 ‘Taking care of your heart’, means keeping it open and free from negativities, revenge, malice and destruction. It’s a constant battle as the world throughs curveballs and people are inconsiderate, corrupt and even abusive.

To keep your heart open and we need to learn how to stay mindful and self-aware. We choose not to allow negativity to fester in our hearts. We learn to forgive[ii].

We place a filter around our hearts. We discern what to allow in – and what to keep out. Who to allow in – and who to keep out.

How to keep your heart open. Read more...

To do list

Here are a few ideas to help you on this path:

·        Do the exercises on the website

·        Learn more about Emotional Intelligence (EI)

·        Contact us if you need help, assistance and coaching. 

·        To catch up and previous lessons see. Website: https://www.brendahattingh.com/blog. Stay up to date…

·        Free E-book: Read the free E-book: Coaching yourself to ultimate success. Available here

·        Enrol for the 10-part course: Learning to think, live and lead like Nelson Mandela. Available here

·        Subscribe for your free Daily Power Tools for Power People delivered to your inbox. Available here

·        To book a personal coaching session via Skype, Zoom or WhatsApp, call and leave a voice message or send a message to (027) 066 29 26808, or send email: [email protected]  We will get back to you ASAP

·        Book Dr Brenda as speaker for your next event. Email: [email protected]. Remember, the lockdown and Covid-19 virus pandemic won’t last forever

Stay safe - stay Connected

References

[i] Holy Bible: Proverbs 4:23-27

[ii] Tomorrow we will focus a bit more on forgiveness.