The Inner Hearth
Coming Home to Yourself
The Inner Hearth is an invitation to recognise that home is already within us. We may not always feel at home with ourselves, but there is always somewhere within us we can return to.
It is an invitation to become aware that there is always someone within us to turn to, someone to listen, someone to hold with kindness, and someone who will remain with us wherever we go.
The Inner Hearth is where our peace can sit and muse.
The Inner Hearth is not where we criticise, judge or fix. It is where we listen to ourselves without judgement, discover more about ourselves, and meet what we find with compassion.
The Inner Hearth is fundamentally about self compassion.
“I can choose to come home to myself.”
Way-Marker 1 : Belonging
We often look outside ourselves for somewhere we fit, in places, people or groups. But belonging can also begin within. It is the simple recognition that there is a place for us exactly as we are. We don't have to become someone else to belong there.
The aim is to become aware of how often we look outside ourselves to feel that we belong, are valued or are enough.
Explorers Experiment
For one day, become aware of how often you look outside yourself for acknowledgement, approval or reassurance.
It could be looking for a like on a social media post, a message from a friend or family member, or even reaching for your dog when you need comfort. Maybe you would like a ‘thank you’ for cooking dinner or fixing the car, or a compliment on how you look today.
All we are learning is when we do this. We are not trying to change it.
Maybe we deserve that ‘Thank you’ too.
Way-Marker 2 : Warmth
When something difficult happens, we often want to move away from the feelings it creates. We distract ourselves, judge ourselves, replay what happened, or try to make the feeling go away. Here we begin to explore what happens when we meet discomfort with curiosity and kindness.
The aim is to become aware of how we respond to uncomfortable thoughts and emotions, and to explore meeting them with kindness rather than judgement.
Explorers Consideration
The next time something happens that feels difficult, uncomfortable, frustrating, or demanding, find somewhere to sit quietly for a moment and acknowledge what happened.
“That was hard.”
Then imagine offering yourself the same warmth you might offer a friend. What would you say to them? Can you offer those same words to yourself?
Give Yourself a Hug
Way-Marker 3 : Connection
The Inner Hearth is a metaphor for home — our internal home, the home that is always with us. Wherever we are physically, we can return to ourselves. We don't have to be in a particular place to stop, breathe and reconnect with what is happening within us.
The aim is to become aware of the places, moments and practices that help us return to ourselves, to reconnect with ourselves.
Explorers Experiment
Make a point of choosing a time in your day to call a ‘return’ moment. It could be just before lunch, or during an afternoon coffee break, when you are out for a walk, for example.
When your ‘return’ moment arrives, stop, breathe, notice your body, notice what you're feeling and ask yourself:
“Where am I right now?”
Not where your body physically is, but where you are inside yourself.
Become aware of what helps you ‘return’. Maybe its sitting quietly, walking, breathing, music, nature, touch, being alone, etc.
Begin to make your Inner Hearth portable.
Way-Marker 4 : Gathering
There may be many different voices within us — the part that wants to move forward, the part that wants to stay safe, the part that dreams, and the part that doubts. We don't necessarily have to silence any of them. We can begin by listening to what each part is trying to tell us.
The aim is to learn that all the different parts of ourselves have a place at our Inner Hearth.
Explorers Experiment
Choose two parts of yourself that seem to want different things.
Give each one a voice. You could even imagine them sitting either side of you at a table.
What does each part want?
What is each part trying to protect or achieve?
You don't have to choose between them. Simply listen.
Gathering isn't about making ourselves one thing. It's about making room for all the things we are.
Way-Marker 5 : Shared Experience
Our experiences are uniquely ours, yet many of the things we experience are part of being human. Fear, uncertainty, joy, longing, doubt and hope are not signs that something is wrong with us. They remind us that, beneath our individual stories, we share the experience of being human.
The aim is to recognise that although our stories are unique, many of the experiences within them are shared by others.
Explorers Consideration
Find a story written or spoken by someone else about an experience you recognise in yourself.
It could be a book, memoir, article, podcast, poem — anything.
Become aware of what happens when you recognise something of yourself in another person's story.
And a Little Experiment too
Take a piece of paper or use your journal if you have started an Explorers Journal and write down the continuation of the following statement:
“I thought I was the only one who…”
Way-Marker 6 : Belief
We all carry beliefs about who we are, what we can do and what is possible for us. Some may encourage us; others may hold us back. We don't have to change them today. We can simply become curious about where they came from and whether they still serve us.
The aim is to become aware of the beliefs we carry about ourselves, and how they can either limit what we believe is possible or open us to new possibilities.
Explorers Experiment
Write down three things you believe about yourself.
Don't choose things you think you should believe. Choose the beliefs that genuinely feel true.
Then, beside each one, ask:
Where did this belief come from?
Does this belief help me feel at home with myself, or does it make me feel I have to be someone else?
Closing the Waypoint
Being at home with yourself is the underlying theme of The Inner Hearth. Within the word Hearth is ‘Heart’. Perhaps this is a place to begin listening to yours.
You don't have to know where the journey will take you. You only need to know that you can always come home to yourself.
