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Chaplain’s Corner

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” ~ Helen Keller

This is one of my favourite Helen Keller quotes and one of the most truthful statements that I’ve ever heard.

The emotions that we experience because someone or something has touched our heart are often the most powerful motivators or depressors that affect us.

Things that affect our heart leave the most lasting impression and can send us right back into the midst of an experience for good or bad when we feel that same emotion even if it’s for a different reason. Personally, I’ve come to believe that this is one of the reasons that we sometimes take an instant liking or perhaps dislike to someone or something new that we come across. For some reason that person, thing or situation makes an instantaneous connection to a positive or negative emotion and before we’ve even thought about it we make a snap judgement about whether we like them or not.

Our hearts are the place where we feel loved or unloved, whole or incomplete. It’s where we connect with our spirituality and the sense of who we are and why we are here. The healthiness of our emotional / spiritual heart is evidenced by our sense of self worth and that is very much a part of our mental health and well-being. It’s one of the reasons that mindfulness and self-awareness have such a positive impact on our sense of well-being because over time we can learn to recognise what we are feeling, what has created that feeling and we can learn to focus on acknowledging but then letting go of the negative emotions that harm us if we dwell on them. We can learn to prepare for, deal with, or avoid the situations that cause those negative emotions, depending upon which is the healthiest option for us to use.

As we learn to recognise more about ourselves and what causes us pleasure or pain we can make different life choices. If we are unable to choose to avoid a situation that we know will be stressful or painful, learning to let go of negative thoughts and emotions helps us to come out of those situations more healthily each time.

If you would like to explore this a little more, chaplains are good, active, non-judgmental, listeners who want to hear your story and be a part of your journey if listening would help. We can’t solve problems but we can help gain a different perspective and sign-post to other services or resources that offer support.

If you’d like to talk to a chaplain you are very welcome to call me directly on my mobile: 07526 378529 either to chat or to arrange a time to meet, or you can contact us via email on info@mitechaplaincy.com where you can request a call-back.

We also have a range of resources on our web-site including some that are more specific to the Covid-19 outbreak and some that help in dealing with stress: https://mite.org.uk

If you prefer you can easily keep in touch with us on social media:
Facebook: @mitechaplaincy Twitter: @mitesthwarr

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash