JanalovinglifeDear Ones,
The conditioning of our culture often trains us to be excessively in the mind and much less in the heart. But as we progress on our spiritual journey, no matter how fascinating many spiritual teachings can be, we soon realise that understanding only on an intellectual level won’t make a big difference in our lives. There comes a time when we know we have to dive deep into the heart, make our home there and learn to keep it open no matter what life experiences we may encounter.
This sounds very simple and at its core it is. Except that most of us were never taught how to do this. Far too many people today are not in touch with their feelings, often suppress them or numb them and for most part this happens in a very unconscious way. But the ability to feel the whole range of feelings is very human and something we all chose to experience.
Once we realise we don’t have to be afraid of any feelings, even those most difficult ones such as anger, grief, disappointment or fear everything becomes much easier. When we keep our heart wide open like an open sea, we soon realise our feelings can come and go easily like the waves on the ocean. When we learn that we don’t have to push against them, hold on to them, get caught in them or be too attached to them but instead simply acknowledge and embrace them with open loving arms, they dissipate naturally and effortlessly on their own.
Awareness is a great gift here. So to become aware of and more familiar with your own beautiful heart is an important step. And as there is no better time than now, if you feel inspired, take a deep breath into your heart and place your hand on your heart and allow yourself to fully feel your heart. In many spiritual traditions the heart is connected to the soul. So being grounded in your heart always gives you a greater soulful perspective, where otherwise your mind could easily get stuck in the illusion of the separate self and keep you in many limitations.
It’s good to be in touch with the movements of your heart. To open it, you can just imagine your heart like a beautiful flower opening with each breath a little bit more or you could just simply think of something which makes you smile. Then become also aware of the moments when you close your heart. When we experience any negative feelings, there is usually tension in the body and we have the tendency to close the heart too. So becoming aware of the habitual ways of closing your heart is a powerful next step.
Next time when you notice your heart closing down, take a deep breath and allow it to stay open so that any feelings can flow easily without any hindrance and notice the difference in your body. If you don’t manage it the first time, don’t worry, it might take some time to master this. Most of us have developed unconscious habits of closing the heart in certain situations so quickly that it might require some practice to learn to keep it open. But don’t give up, your heart will reward you with many gifts and blessings if you keep it open.
We often close our hearts when we receive an inner “no” about situations or people in our lives. And although having self-respect and clear boundaries is healthy and ultimately benefits everyone around us, we can at the same time learn to let go of any judgment and instead cultivate compassion and unconditional love for everyone, including ourselves. Judgement is one of the quickest ways to close the heart and it will be mainly us who suffer the consequences of the closed heart – loss of vitality and zest of life being just one example.
And so cultivating compassion and unconditional love for ourselves and others is a powerful way to keep the heart open no matter what is happening in our lives. At our core we ARE unconditional love and so keeping the heart open simply helps us to be true to our identity and live in alignment and harmony with All-That-Is. I believe this is what we are all called to do now at these powerful times of awakening: One open heart helps the other heart to stay open until we all remember that we are all One and create heaven on Earth. And so if you feel inspired, dearest One, join this quiet revolution of unconditional love today and from now on keep your heart open.
I look forward to meditating with you.
Lots of love,
Jana x x
You are very welcome to join us for meditation with the theme Living With an Open Heart:
On Thursday 28th September at 10 am on Zoom and on Saturday 30th September at 11.30 * am at Tree Of Life Centre in Hove & on Zoom. (* GMT)
