Experience the Planetary Shift on an Uptilt

A planetary shift is under way. Many sense this shift internally and we perceive that time is accelerating. It's hard to keep up. We're constantly bombarded by an ever-increasing number of choices. Emotions peak and ebb to extremes in the span of hours, even minutes. Uncertainty seems to be on the rise about our personal direction and the world's.

Amid the stress and chaos, concern mounts over climate change, rising oil prices, economic instability and global insecurity, but people are coming together. A momentum is building among those who want to give back to society and take care of each other and our planet. Social networking is bringing these people together and there is an energetic sparkle in the air and a sense of hope that something new will emerge.

Scientific research shows these flickers of hope are qualities of the heart and spirit. The heart feelings of happiness, care and compassion are enhanced by:

• Spiritual practices like meditation and prayer that connect us to something greater than ourselves.
• Heart connection with others, close friendships within and outside the family.
• Gathering with others frequently for uplifting purposes: church, social causes, etc.

We call these actions that help nurture us emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually aspects of heart-based living. As the planetary shift continues and people experience greater stress, overstimulation, overload, stress-induced physical and mental health problems, the imperative to shift toward heart-based living increases.

As life's pace continues to accelerate, we'll be presented with even more choices and have less time to make them. The good news is that when we approach our choices with sincere heart intent it's easier to access the energy required to shift quickly into the most beneficial mental and emotional states.

Incoherence — When a person feels stress, overwhelm, anxiety, uncertainty and fear, the heart is sending chaotic and incoherent signals to the brain/mind, triggering stressful responses. The higher cortical functions are inhibited, meaning the heart and brain are out of alignment, so solutions to personal or world problems elude us.

Collectively, these negative emotions are registered in the heart and brain's electromagnetic fields, generating a global stress and incoherence wave that goes out to those around us and around the globe. Stress and incoherence are intensified by instant massmedia reports — the natural disasters, social upheaval, economic turmoil and more.

Coherence — When you feel genuine hope, care and compassion, your heart is sending harmonious and coherent signals to the brain/ mind, replacing feelings of separation with a sense of connection. The heart and brain are aligned and in sync. The higher cortical functions are enhanced, facilitating objective, sober assessment and intuitive perception. You perceive more wholeness, and solutions to problems are more apparent.

Collectively, positive emotions such as hope, care, compassion and appreciation generate a global coherence wave whose electromagnet field goes out to those around us and across the globe. Increasing heart alignment and focusing on heart-based living have the potential to create a global coherence wave to facilitate new solutions for the world's problems.

More than ever people need to understand the physiology of coherence that underlies heart-based principles and the science behind global coherence. Click here to learn more about global coherence and the Global Coherence Initiative.

Tips for Heart-Based Living

1. Increasing the textures of your experience: Positive feelings such as genuine care and appreciation add greater texture and richness to our lives: Sunsets are more beautiful, spring days feel fresher, and even food seems to taste better.
2. Practice genuine appreciation for everything in your life, especially anything you may take for granted. Increasing heartfelt positive emotions like care and appreciation helps you move through difficult times with greater ease, security and grace. When you're not aligned with your heart, the textures and richness of life can quickly diminish.
3. Practice care, not overcare, for yourself and others going through the shift: Ask yourself: Is my care producing or reducing stress? Be aware of how you feel about an issue at hand, place your focus in the heart area and breathe in a positive feeling or attitude. Be objective, as if the issue or problem is someone else's. Relax in the heart area and become neutral about the issue, allowing your heart intelligence to offer new perspectives and possibilities.
4. You can increase the potency of your care and intentions and the effectiveness of your choices and actions. Listening to what your heart prompts you to do can make your caring more effective. Excessive care, or overcare related to an issue or situation can create stress and negative emotions, so it is important for your care to be balanced.
5. Watch out for negative projections — the down slant: Negative projections actually are negative thoughts and feelings about you, someone else or the future. Say you're planning to meet someone with whom you have a hard time communicating. Instead of projecting judgment or anxiety, generate appreciation, care and calm. You'll enter the meeting with a more balanced and intuitive perspective.

More Ideas From HeartMath

• Read an in-depth discussion about care versus overcare and learn about HeartMath's stress-clearing tools and techniques in Transforming Anxiety, The HeartMath Solution for Overcoming Fear and Worry and Creating Serenity, by Doc Childre and Deborah Rozman.
• Heard about HeartMath's newest heart-based-living tools yet? You and people around the world can track your personal stress levels with our online Personal Well-Being Survey™. It's free!
• HeartMath's scientifically developed and tested emWave^® technology is helping people around the world monitor and manage stress levels, self-regulate emotions and increase personal coherence. Learn more about this highly effective and widely acclaimed technology at emWave^® Pro for Mac and PC, emWave2 or Inner Balance^™Bluetooth for Android or iOS.