My greatest desire is to keep my heart open... I use compassion as the tool to go into the world with an open heart, not judging, not setting myself apart from others who share my journey. I have the power to keep my heart open.
KEEPING our heart open is perhaps the greatest gift we can give ourselves and others and so often the most challenging thing we face.
Our heart opens when we connect.
Our heart closes when we buy into the illusion of separation... when we withdraw... keep to ourselves when we truly do not really want to... when we isolate... do not join in.
Our culture... our society... our politics... aren't they so often vying to close our hearts.
The biggest culprit is when we put our head to problems... when we begin to judge.
Guaranteed to close our heart are those judgments associated with isms... racism, sexism, ageism, classism and nationalism.
Globally and locally hearts close when we put up borders between peoples... when we restrict entry to people...when we say this person is not right for this person or indeed ourselves.
If we want to open our heart we can try being compassionate.
When we are compassionate we care... we start to understand... we see ourselves in the person whom we are being compassionate towards... With compassion comes sympathy... with compassion comes empathy... with compassion comes forgiveness for the person while not condoning poor behaviors...
We feel our hearts close when we have ill will to people, spite, malice, condemnation and hatred.
So often these feelings come out of emotional wounds and the pain we have gone through or witnessed at the hands of others.
But when we open our heart we can see the person for who they really are even if they have not showed up in the world as they really are. That is the key.
Sometimes we do not like others simply because their behavior... which is not really them at all... mirrors those aspects of us which we are so uncomfortable with because we are in those aspects not showing up who we really are.
With a closed heart, we cannot possibly reveal ourselves for the truth of who we really are.
It is in this realm of fear based thinking that we mistrust others... pull away from others who so much want to share their love...do not join in human connection...do not respond to the invitation... The closed heart disconnects... sets apart... is the cause of loneliness.
The open heart is the path to deep meaningful connection... to intimacy.. to sharing... to being socially attuned... to being human.
With an open heart it is so much harder, if not impossible, to harm or hurt others.
Opened heart people are the safest on the planet.
But with a closed heart we do not see our common humanity... we feel alienated.. superior or inferior... disconnected. And, yes, so dangerous.
The closed heart people are sometimes those who do hurt and harm one another... who think little of maiming or killing another human being whether in a so called legal framework or an illegal one.
We need the greatest compassion of all for those who do close their heart, whether occasionally, some of the time, most of the time or all of the time.
To the degree a heart is opened or closed will define the path and subsequent karma of the person involved.
Let us make it our mission in life to open our heart as much as possible.
Fear closes the heart... fear of rejection... fear of being judged... fear of being criticized..
Love opens the heart.... when we know that no one can reject us but ourselves... that no one can judge us but ourselves and what anybody thinks of us is really none of our business.
An open heart can never really be closed by anyone else.
It is only closed by us... When we really know and feel and are the love that we truly are then it will be hard indeed, and so unnecessary, to close that heart.
Let's push our hearts so open that they are very hard indeed to close.
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