It’s easy to become angry and jaded with the world. Turn on the TV and it’s hard not to drown in negative news. Because we’re bombarded with so much negativity on a daily basis, we become desensitized towards the tragedies and injustices taking place every day.
It’s easy to build up walls of protection around ourselves as a way of dealing with all the negativity.
Here are 6 Techniques to Remove the Wall Around Your Heart and Become More Caring.
1. Remind yourself that you love.
Because of so much negativity around us, we may begin to believe and accept that we are less caring. But that’s not true in most cases. You simply need to become aware once more of those you care for.
Take a quiet moment to think about the people you know. Think about the meaning they have to you, and why you love them.
You’ll already start to feel the warmth of love rise up inside you.
Now imagine that they are under the impression that you don't like them. You know that’s not true. Show them how you actually feel.
2. Separate yourself from negativity.
Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we feel so hopeless and frustrated with people that we can’t stop our anger from consuming our kindness.
If you realize that feelings of anger arise in you in increasing frequency, take steps to avoid situations that cause such negative feelings.
- If it’s something on you've seen on TV, turn the TV off.
- If you habitually feel angry while you are within a group of people, walk away.
Lingering in negativity can start to harden our hearts and minds and make us unpleasant, unkind people. Use meditation to protect your energy from the influence of negative people. Here are 7 other ways to do so.
3. Cultivate empathy.
Put yourself in the other persons' shoes as often as you can. It will stop you from feeling annoyed with people.
Try to understand the motives and reasons behind people’s actions
. You’ll see that others are not trying to make you feel bad on purpose - all they are really trying to do is to help themselves.
When you put others before yourself, you can focus on their feelings, problems and concerns.
Take the initiative to provide assistance, advice or a just hear them out. Helping them to overcome hardships will motivate you to continue on a similar, caring path.
4. Learn to forgive.
Holding a grudge is like a subtle poison that can consume the light that shines inside you. Just forgive - both yourself and others.
Yes, there are bad people out there who bruise our spirits, but allowing them to make us bitter and unforgiving is counterproductive.
Don’t keep a tally of perceived or actual slights that you may have experienced. And if you’ve gone through serious offenses, focus on the healing process instead.
5. Read.
Beautiful, caring and kind people make up our world for the most part. We don’t realize this because the media and everything else around us tend to focus on the negative.
Every day there are countless people doing all kinds of good deeds, both great and small, to make our world a better place.
- Dig deeper into these stories.
- Find out about the motivations and thought processes behind their actions.
- Look into the positive effects of their caring actions.
When we know that we can do something to change and uplift someone else, it truly warms our hearts. Surround yourself with positive stories and caring people, and they'll take you along for the journey.
6. Care for yourself.
Taking care of your physical, emotional and spiritual health is as important as caring for the needs of others.
When you are strong and healthy you are much more capable of helping out - you are able to contribute much more.
Loving and caring for ourselves also teaches us how to do the same for others. Be patient with yourself. We all make mistakes and take the time to learn. Respect yourself, and you’ll see the need to respect the feelings of the people around you.
Use our guided meditation audio to learn how to be more caring - get mp3 here.
Everyone can show caring and love. We are naturally inclined to love, but we learn to hate. Strive to prove that we are a force for good. The more positivity we spread through caring for people, our earth and our principles, the better our quality of life we will have.
