Are You Guarding Your Heart or Letting it Become Hard?

To truly live your legacy, you have to be open to change, and new experiences. You have to have a heart and a mind that is open and ready to receive whatever life has to offer.

I wanted to talk about a passage from the Bible today. Before I lose you, I ask you to not shut down and be open to this lesson whether you are religious or not, whether you are deep in your faith or early in your spiritual journey. Whatever it might be, there are some great lessons to be learned from the Bible. And so we’re going to talk about a passage from the Bible in the Book of Proverbs which is one of my favorites. Proverbs is kind of like this personal development book, jam-packed with nuggets and gems, smack dab in the middle of this religious text.

Proverbs 4:23, says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

And this verse, Proverbs 4:23, really hit home for me. It made me think of how often I run into people that have what we would call a “hard heart.” People who just assume the worst no matter what the situation is. These people aren’t guarding their heart against the negative influences in their lives. They’re walking around being negative, being down, being depressed. And their lives reflect this hardened heart. Because everything they are putting out is returning to them.

But if you truly want to lead a legacy lifestyle, you can’t do that while your heart is hardened. If you want to be successful, you can’t do that with a hard heart. To truly live your legacy, you have to be open to change, and new experiences. You have to have a heart and a mind that is open and ready to receive whatever life has to offer.

You need to guard against the people who have these hardened hearts. The people in your life who are negative, who carry misery around like a backpack. The people who only see the downside, and never even look for the lessons or the silver lining. These people will try to drag you down with them. But you can’t let them. You can’t let that negativity harden your heart to the joy and abundance that is available to you. You can’t let them keep you from stepping into and living your legacy.

Everything that we do and everything that happens in our lives flows from who we are on the inside. If you aren’t guarding your heart and remaining happy, and coming into every situation you face with love and working to grow and expand in all areas, you will never reach the goal of living your legacy lifestyle.
I’ve had a hardened heart, so I know how difficult it is to release that grip. Even when you know that you should be more forgiving, more understanding. Even when you know you should believe in the best in others. When your heart is hard, it’s easy to convince yourself that others are the problem, not yourself.

So, how do you move away from this hard heart? How do you begin to soften your heart, and change your view of others? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s a choice. A conscious choice that you have to make daily to believe in the good. A daily choice to see the positive in every situation and find the silver lining, instead of allowing yourself to drown. Do you want to lead a legacy lifestyle or do you want to go through life hard and bitter and unhappy? Because you can’t have both. You have to choose.

Depending on where you are on the scale of that hardness, it may take a little longer for some than others to crawl out of the pit having a heard heart will create within you. But if you make the choice and commit you can pull yourself out of that pit. It takes being ruthlessly committed and doing the work every day. But you can do it.

Try surrounding yourself with different people. Try having deep conversations with those closest to you about what’s going on and confronting things that you’ve been trying to hide. That is truly the path to break free from this hardened state of life, this hardened heart that you carry around with you.

You can’t create from a hardened heart. You can’t live your legacy if you are walking around all “woe is me” all the time and playing the victim. To live your legacy, you need to make a choice and take ownership. That’s the only way it works.

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Photo by Alejandro Alvarez on Unsplash