Has it ever happened that you feel deeply moved by a song, a sculpture, a choreography, a photograph or a painting?
When you have this sensation, this experience, something extraordinary happens within you.
Your inner world responds to something in the outer world and it opens up. This is the gate to your heart opening.
An open heart is the source of both prevention and healing of mental and emotional health challenges.
Through an open heart emotions run freely, judgment is absent and life is welcomed as it is - challenges included.
The heart holds space for many beautiful qualities such as harmony, acceptance, strength, grace, serenity, justice, and many more. These qualities are easy to experience when the heart is open. An open heart is like the garden of our inner world. Here, all needs are met, pleasant experiences are amplified and difficult times are soothed by the gentleness that is the heart itself.
How do paintings actually open the heart?
Sometimes a painting - or a different kind of artwork - captures us. It catches our eye, it grabs us. We might feel intrigued by it or very drawn to it. Usually we cannot explain why, but we do feel it.
It is important to pay attention to this cue, because it might just be your heart communicating that the artwork might serve you in a very positive way.
Just like a song has the power to help us feel uplifted, understood, inspired, encouraged, touched, comforted and so on, a painting can serve as a treasure for your inner world.
How does it make you feel? This is the key question.
If you resonate with the painting, it will speak to your heart and soul.
That in and of itself, is a huge gift.
Our connection with our heart and soul is not to be taken for granted.
People who feel closely connected to their essence, their soul, their heart, experience much greater mental and emotional health.
That is because in essence we are sentient beings that long for connection and unity.
Mental wellness is our birth right. Most people have forgotten how much they deserve to feel wonderful.
However, any kind of imbalance can be repaired, and a painting might be of great help.
If we truly allow ourselves to connect with a painting, we will experience so much more than a beautiful work of art.
We will connect with the essence of the painting and all the messages it carries within. In doing so, we also connect with our own essence, the core of who we are. We free up space for us to be ourselves and thus stimulate our own mental health and emotional resilience.
We need art, we need vibrant colors, we need implicit messages of love and light.
We need to remember how much we deserve to live this life to the fullest.
We need a canvas that has been treated with love and respect. We need artworks that have been made with the intention to open our hearts.
Only then can we restore on the deepest levels, and feel strong and resilient within our bodies, our souls, our hearts and our minds.
Love,
Steffi