I was browsing through one of my favourite décor and homeware stores today and I saw that the 'love heart' has evolved into more than the typical jewellery and chocolate fare. I was deluged with heart-shaped bakeware, the most desirable fondue sets, and, of course, the expected pamper-me bath accessories.

While you're probably still basking in the red haze of Valentine's Day, soon the memories will become a glimmer. As the heart-shaped mineral bath essences melt, our collective bliss of celebrating love this month will also soon fade. Why?

Joy-filled moments

When I think back to the delightful heart-shaped bakeware in the shop, I whizz forward to a vision of creative, joy-filled moments spent baking and sharing. I ponder how we can make the hearts more permanent fixtures in our lives.

Amid the doom and gloom of stimulus packages and recession talk, I realise that the real love muscle, the heart, is the only way we're going to get through this.

What does your heart look like?

Do you vision a perfect, red, two-fold love dome or something more like the biology class diagram? How does your heart feel? Is it sentimental, soft and warm? How do you use your heart - as an intuitive guide, to manipulate, or as a holistic life management tool?

So, how can our heart guide us through the harrowing economic downturn? By continually focusing on money, making-money, the lack of it or having too much, we freeze the gateway to our hearts. What we believe is a logical brain-centred approach to our financial wealth management is probably the most illogical route to take.

Scared of the future

For when we are scared of what the future holds, and worry about mounting debts, we process life from a basis of fear. Fear of failure and not making it through paralyses us and often prevents us from remembering our heart.

If we took the lead from our hearts, we would anchor our behaviour in acceptance (no resistance) and responsibility, allowing the possibility of change. This era calls for us to nurture and use the inbuilt tool that we all have - the heart.

It's interesting that the heart offers such capacity for healing, resolving and regenerating, yet we make little use of it. When last did you stop to check your heart rate when faced with a tough decision? It's easy when life is good, but when the going gets tough, our faithful heart stands by, ready to work.

If we accept the heartfelt invitation to seize opportunities in these turbulent times, then, by re-channelling our energy away from worry, to the ultimate love muscle, we will be stepping firmly along the path to tranquillity, harmony and abundance. It's ours for the taking and, what's more, it's within us all.

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