You Gotta Have Heart

A few days ago, I opened in a featured character role in the show, Damn Yankees.  The premise of the show, a musical version of the book, The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, is that an athlete who has devil granted powerful hitting, can change everything. A lackluster baseball team goes from being the lowest ranked baseball team to winning the pennant when a middle aged man sells his soul to the devil in exchange for being a baseball hero who can raise his team to the top. The team’s changeover uplifts a whole community of people thrilled to see their home team finally winning.

It’s a wonderful fantasy, but can one great ball player change a team that much? According to the song, “You’ve Gotta Have Heart,” the star baseball player Joe Hardy is a hero because he has “heart.” Can having “heart” really change one’s life so dramatically?

Yes! If having heart can mean having positive emotions, then it’s true. Research shows that positive emotions expand us. When we are experiencing positivity, we open to possibilities.

The more I coach, the clearer I see how the biggest obstacles we face in the way of getting what we most want in life are ourselves. When we can open and see possibilities beyond our limiting beliefs, we maximize our own potential. It’s the most beautiful moment when someone lights up with a new insight, a spark of creativity or small ideas that begins a chain of “Yes!”

Barbara Fredrickson researches the impact of positive emotions on our wellbeing. She says, “they literally change the boundaries of our minds and our hearts and change our outlook on our environments.”

Just before starting this piece, I was a little stuck with a bunch of starts and unfinished pieces. As the rehearsal process for Damn Yankees built towards performance, as the cast grew more connected working towards a common goals, as we saw improvements, exciting costume and scenery additions, the exchanges of smiles increased. Each smile and connection, boosted our spirits and spread the excitement around.

With a heart full of love for my cast mates and what we were creating together, the inspiration to finish this piece flowed and much of this piece wrote itself while I sat backstage opening night in between stage appearances. In the midst of enthusiastic show energy, I felt empowered and knew just what to write.

Now, I understand more viscerally, how moments of joy and other positive emotions can open us creatively and make striving for a goal feel effortless. The next time I am feeling stuck, I know to make time to smile with a friend, hug my children, do something kind, and do the activities that generally lift my positivity and open my heart.

What will you do to bring more positivity, possibility and creativity into your life?