Strong Back, Open Heart

We love poetry at Awaken - I've got quite a collection now that fits perfectly with some of our courses on emotions, values, beliefs, reality, identity, on love. Poetry seems to crack the heart wide open while strengthening the spine.

One of my favorite poems is an excerpt from John Roedel's The Anatomy of Peace: 

"If you are exhausted about

your heart’s obsession with

the fixed past and your mind’s focus

on the uncertain future

your lungs are the perfect place for you

there is no yesterday in your lungs

there is no tomorrow there either

there is only now

there is only inhale

there is only exhale

there is only this moment

there is only breath

and in that breath

you can rest while your

heart and head work

their relationship out."

As Liz Gilbert has said in one of her Letters from Love, "It is not so much about keeping the heart open as it is about asking the mind to relinquish its deadly certainties...  The mind is a toddler in a diaper and clown shoes compared to what the heart can do."

Have you ever noticed that sometimes, while the head is busying itself endlessly making up its frightening stories, and reaching its fortressed conclusions, the heart continues to be an ocean of limitless horizons? 

Some people believe that opening the heart will leave you far too vulnerable, but I've found that the opposite happens, quite literally in the body.

When I open my rib cage and hold it in its natural, upright position, my back is firm and strong. 

The heart is so close to the lungs, collaborating to fill the whole body with oxygenated blood, bringing energy and circulation to every system. 

The heart does its magic patiently, repairing relationships, not counting time.

It's also so wise. Once it learns to love your one true self for life, it won't open for just anyone's unkind behaviors. You can trust it - more and more every day - to allow in curiosity, kindness, courage, compassion, and clarity. 

Best of all, the heart doesn't have to manufacture love. There are infinite amounts already. The heart knows that you can relax and rest while the mundane miracles continue to surround you.