Our brilliant hearts are trying, so valiantly, so bravely, to lead us to a much more beautiful world. A world of connection, of kindness, of love capers. Of gentleness, of softness, of shared tears, shared joys. It's the moments when I've let all my armor down, all my rational thought go: sobbing after the loss of a beloved, witnessing the birth of a child, hearing the vows of dear friends, connecting to a long held grief or joy...it's in these moments I've felt most alive, most connected to everything and everyone in this world. And then the armor starts to go back up. The openness fades and the constriction begins anew.
And I forget and I try to fit in and shove my beautiful brilliant heart to the side to survive, well not to survive but seemingly so. Believing this is how this world works. That the heart is not all that important or wise. That it is too tender, too mushy, too sensitive. That it creates frailty and weakness. That we live, choose and navigate by our brain. That logic is better. Rational. Linear. Sensical.
I know this is not true and when I forget is when there is so much more pain for me. Decisions based from ego, from comparison, from fear of being rebuffed, rejected, abandoned. You know, primal survival stuff.
It's my job, our job, to keep our hearts open: to value it, nourish it, honor it. To rub it with rose oil, to watch a teary movie (last week it was “Finding Neverland”), to let it breathe and exhale as it needs. To give it oxygen, space, room to be alive and part of this world. Because when we cut ourselves off from our hearts, we cut ourselves off from one another. And there is so much pain in that. I believe that is what so many of us are healing, our wild broken hearts.
So today, be gentle, smell the flower, call up someone and tell them you love them, do a love caper, tune into your own heart and see what it needs to be open and vital. We need your beautiful heart in the world.
Now more than ever.
Because if there's one thing I'm pretty sure about- the world could use more, not less, love.
Some of the things I do to connect to my heart:
I'll put my hand on it and ask “what do you need?" and gently ever so gently rub my heart and see what emerges (tears, a request), read romance books/watch sweet movies, volunteer, bake cookies for neighbors, dance to "Let it Be," "Hallelujah," or "Crazy Love (on the ground, slow, slow, slow), watch the final 8 minutes of Lost, think of a beloved whose passed over, go for a walk and take in the beauty of Seattle's nature. What works for you?
May your weekend be full of open hearted living.