My own heart directed journey really took off almost 5 years ago when I asked Godde to please help me to continue to love someone that I was breaking up with. A love that held no wanting was new territory for me. From that simple prayer a love affair with my heart has sprung up and I have found that I am not alone in this experience. Over and over again I have been drawn to books and podcasts of those who also have discovered a meaningful connection between the heart and how it inspires, illuminates and directs us all along our path.
It has been a rich and long history from Buddha to contemporary teachers so "Where to begin? Begin with the heart" Julian of Norwich.
So lets continue with two quotes about the heart path. The first from Don Juan of Spanish folkore "All paths lead nowhere, so it is important to choose a path that has heart" and "Setting a long-term intention is like setting the compass of a heart" by Jack Kornfield. I loved these two quotes since they seem to be opposite yet in heartland all can be connected!
In the first two quotes we spoke about honouring our process. The heart also seems to have many qualities emanating from its center. Its range is vast: being both profound and fun. "Play is the springboard of Discovery, the heart of art" offers Eric Hoffer. In this quote he is speaking about the heart as the centre of something. Many religions and philosophies also recognize the central and connecting power of the spiritual and physical heart
How do we find discover this power? I found it through moments of stillness. This heart felt path seemingly has led many of us to discover the importance of the mind -heart consciousness "Our natural state is when the mind is in deep harmony with the heart energy stated by Marianne Williamson. Eckhart Tolle further explains "Heart is what arises when the mind subsides". The pre-requisite space of awareness is needed for the heart opening and my favourite quote has an even a more exacting adage of the role of the heart "The mind creates the abyss, the heart crosses it" Nisargadatta Maharaaj.
The energetic heart is key player on both a mental and emotional level. It will hold the frequency of gratitude and support the process of grief. "Gratitude is the memory of the heart" written by Jean Baptiste Massieu and its role in grief so eloquently shared in this paragraph by Jack Kornfield. "The grief we carry is part of the grief of the world. Hold it gently. Let it be honored. You do not have to keep it in any more. You can let go into the heart of compassion; you can weep. Releasing the grief we carry is a long, to filled process. Yet it follows the natural intelligence of the body and the heart. Trust it, trust the unfolding. Along with meditation, some of your grief will want to be written, to be cried out, to be sung, to be danced. Let the timeless wisdom within you carry you through grief to an open heart".
The heart has a role in freeing us too. We can find our deepest truth by exploring our heart. "We pay attention with respect and interest, not in order to manipulate, but to understand what is true. And seeing what is true, the heart becomes free" Shunryu Suzuki. How amazing that this spiritual and physical anchor supports us in finding the truth when we rocognize and rely on its capacity.
Is there anything that the heart is not involved in....I wonder? "Life is that same piece of heart loving itself back together. Quietness resting in that heart space where we're all together" shared by Tara Brach. "The truly abundant heart is already whole. It embraces our world with all its joys and fear, gain and loss, nobility and selfishness, it even embraces death" It is the heart that gives, the fingers. Just let go. African proverb.
Along with the rest and wholeness what else could there be? The heart even reaches the cosmos and touches enlightenment. Henri Nouwen practically gushes when he said "God is as big as your heart; and your heart is as big and wide as the universe." Finally no other than the Buddha spoke of the heart's place in our divine journey. "Nirvana is immediate, visible here and now, inviting, attractive, comprehensible to the wise heart"
This has been my experience, for when I put my hand on my heart and breath into the stillness of that space a remembrance appears with the knowing that I AM love. In that moment all is rectified within myself as there is no division no pain no suffering just pure spaciousness.
There are so many wonderful quotes so a Part 2 will emerge in the coming months. Till then lets end this blog is with the question from Tara Brach posed in one of her videos.
What's between me and openhearted presence?
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