Take An Appreciation Break

By The Institute of HeartMath

The Institute of HeartMath has been researching emotions over two decades, and its studies repeatedly show appreciation is among the most effective - even to the point of being mentally, physically and behaviorally transforming.

A common experience of people, whether they have expressed appreciation or gratitude for someone or been the recipient, is the feeling of gentle warmth in the area around their hearts. This is a property that is evident during scientific trials with participants who are asked to intentionally feel these emotions.

HeartMath Institute has observed physical and behavioral characteristics of subjects during studies when they feel either positive or negative emotions. Results consistently have shown that heart-focused, sincere, positive feeling states boosted energy, cognitive abilities, the immune system and resiliency for future challenges. However negative emotions tended to suppress or impair these for varying amounts of time.

Thousands of people who didn't consider themselves to be very happy have succeeded in shifting their outlook and changing negative or unwanted behavior patterns by practicing HeartMath's emotion-refocusing techniques.

If you look more closely at what is happening when you get that warm heart feeling mentioned earlier, you might see that the quality your heart rhythms have actually improved from what they were before the feeling.

One moment, someone could be feeling frustration, anger, fear or another negative emotion and the pattern, (see graphic of someone's actual pattern) might be jagged, or disordered.

Within seconds of choosing to feel appreciation, compassion or another positive emotion, the pattern can turn smooth, or ordered.

Smooth heart-rhythm patterns (see appreciation graphic) are what scientists call highly ordered or coherent patterns. The higher a person's coherence is, the likelier the person is to be enjoying good health and emotional balance. This transformation in heart-rhythm patterns is accessible to most people. A willingness to make a simple commitment to minutes of daily practice of some easily learned techniques can lead to improved heart-rhythm patterns with greater frequency.

Sincere, heartfelt appreciation uplifts, inspires, and drives us to achieve that which we did not think possible.

HeartMath's Appreciation Tool™

HeartMath's researchers have developed a number of these techniques. Here is the Appreciation Tool:

  Heart Breathing: Focus your attention on your heart area, and breathe a little deeper than normal, in for 5 or 6 seconds and out 5 or 6 seconds.

  Heart Focus: Imagine breathing through your heart. Picture yourself slowly breathing in and out through your heart area.

  Heart Feeling: Activate a positive feeling as you maintain your heart focus and breathing. Recall a time you felt good inside, and try to re-experience the feeling. Remember a special place or the love you feel for a close friend, relative or treasured pet. The key is to focus on something you really appreciate.

OK. What are you feeling? Notice a greater sense of ease, well-being or relaxation? Want to go even deeper? Try incorporating more appreciation into your life in the following simple ways.

   Appreciation Breaks. Take two or three appreciation breaks each day - ideally in early morning, during work, school, returning home or before bed. Just follow the above simple steps. It takes as little as two minutes to achieve mental, emotional and physical balance.

   Appreciation List. Make a list of things you appreciate - people, places, activities, pets - and choose one or two each morning to hold in your heart during the day. Choose an item again at night to hold in your heart while you rest.