The other day in my favorite Peloton rider community, a new rider asked for help. She was struggling just to get through a short beginner workout, and asked if anyone had any helpful tips for how to get motivated to ride.

The key piece of information she’d included in her post was this: She said she was a runner in high school. She used to have great cardio conditioning. 

But she grew up and life did what it does, and she was fearful she might not be able to have a healthy heart again. 

Here’s what I said: “Here’s the thing: Your heart is a muscle. And it has muscle memory, just like your other muscles. Don’t wait to get motivated: Just get on the bike. If you do this frequently, even for 10 minutes at a time at first, the day will come when your heart remembers what it already knows how to do, and you’ll be back in the game.”

I thought this was a word for someone today, and I don’t mean the fitness advice. 

Your heart is a muscle.

And it has muscle memory. 

So whenever your heart feels broken, or you’ve experienced loss, betrayal, disappointment or that gaping, heavy, breathtaking feeling that you might be unloved, know this: 

Your heart has not forgotten.

It has not forgotten how to love. 

It has not forgotten how to be loved, either. 

If you’ve ever looked at a puppy, a baby or a pajama-wearing goat, and felt the unconditional wave of warmth and openness flood through you, your heart remembers how to love.

If you’ve ever seen the twinkling, crinkling eyes of someone who loves you regardless of how much you make or how much you weigh, whether it was your life partner last week, your best friend last year or your grandmother when you were four, your heart remembers how to receive love without the condition of performing or conforming.

In fact, if you exist as a human being on Planet Earth and you can’t recall that feeling of all-encompassing love from another human, take a walk in nature as soon as you can, even if it’s for 10 minutes. 

As you walk, be reminded that you are beloved by All That Is, by Source, by what some of us call the Divine or God. And if you need evidence, take a pause and try to count the leaves on the trees you pass that are conspiring with the sun, to create the oxygen that, in turn, conspires with your body for you to live. 

You are beloved. 

Unconditionally.

Whether or not the people around you are stable enough in their own sense of being loved to be able to communicate that to you in word or deed.

You were born to be loved. Adored. Cherished. 

If you haven’t been feeling that way, turn your attention inward and upward.

Tune yourself to the channel of Universal love. 

Remember that it is already yours and do whatever you’ve got to do to get receptive to it. Bestow it on yourself first. Extend openness, warmth, appreciation, affection and attention to everything about your own, inner experience.

Like the song says, stop looking for love in all the wrong places.

Like the children’s book says, let yourself be who you are. Stop rejecting and disowning parts of yourself. 

Like Rumi said, stop wandering from room to room looking for the diamond necklace that is already around your neck. 

Like Bapuji said, “break your heart no longer.
 
Each time you judge yourself, you break your own heart;
you stop feeding on the love which is the wellspring of your vitality.”
He said: “The time has come. Your time to live, to celebrate.
And to see the goodness that you are.”
 
He didn’t say the good acts that you DO.
 
He said the goodness that you are.

You are beloved.

You are love.

And no matter how broken your heart has ever been, your heart has muscle memory.

Your heart has not forgotten.

And it will not forget.

Neither has your Source.

So don’t you forget, either. 

With great love and appreciation that you are riding this rock that is hurtling through space right alongside the rest of us…

Head up + heart out,

P.S.: My leaderboard name on Peloton is SoulTourCEO, if you’re a rider and want to connect there!

Tara-Nicholle Nelson, MA, Esq.
Founder + CEO of SoulTour

@taranicholle on FB | TW | IG | LI

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