3 Ways to Grow a Gloriously Fierce and Strong Heart No Matter What’s Happening in Your Life

A strong heart has plenty of scars.

But have you ever seen or known a woman who has been through a lot of struggle in life, and yet she just… shines?

There’s some sort of glorious thing that happens when you come through adversity and can still embrace the people around you, still accept love, still burn with beauty.

And you know I’m not talking about magazine beauty. This isn’t supermodel-on-the-runway beauty. It’s something entirely different, and far more powerful.

A fiercely strong heart isn’t easy to grow.

It isn’t always easy to move forward, out of the shadow of emotional pain.

But here are 3 ways that will help you grow a strong heart, no matter what’s happening in your life right now, or what has happened in the past…

1. A fiercely strong heart struggles, but ALSO searches out and claims silver linings

This isn’t about being a Pollyanna. It’s about knowing that life can be difficult, that you will encounter bad breaks, scary passages, and rough seas AND YET…

You can also name the strengths, note the beauties, and express gratitude for all the good things that come about despite the pain.

Our built-in survival systems tend to focus on the negative (that’s how they keep us alive and out of danger), but we actually experience uplifting and inspiring things more frequently than we do the heart-wrenchingly bad things.

Strong hearts NOTICE and APPRECIATE those good things.

They make a habit of it.

2. A gloriously strong heart looks for ways to bring beauty and growth out of challenging situations

My girlfriend who lives down the road from me went through one of the worst things I can imagine. Her 21-year-old son died suddenly and without any warning of viral meningitis. She had spoken to him two hours before it happened.

She and her entire family were thrown into a tailspin of grief and devastation. And as the flood of calls, visits, and emotional insanity wound down, she began to realize that there was a gift she could bring out of her son’s death.

She began to raise money to help other young people who, like her son, loved music, but these young adults didn’t have money for a guitar like he did.

She gives away guitars.

What a simple thing! Any yet the foundation she created is bringing the joy of musical expression to other young people every day.

3. A deeply strong heart remains open and accepting of all the love that comes along.

This is a hard one for many women.

But it turns out that being able to RECEIVE love and acts of kindness is just as important (and maybe more important) than offering these same gifts to others.

Accepting love boosts your serotonin levels and it has a cumulative effect!

Strong hearted women accept and express gratitude for the compliments, offers of support, and the many other expressions of authentic love that come their way.