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Hello dear ones,
Here’s what’s been on my mind today ….
“Our hearts don’t break.”
That’s the thought that kept coming to me this morning when I reflected on a note a friend had just sent me. His heart is aching as a beloved relationship shifts away from romance. I know what it’s like when my heart hurts so deeply that I can’t catch my breath. It can even seem that life won’t go on, at least not in a way that has any rhyme or reason to it.
But I don’t think it’s our hearts that shatter, when we say we have a broken heart.
Anahata … This is a Sanskrit word meaning “un-struck, un-hurt, un-beaten”. Anahita is the name of the fourth chakra …. The heart chakra. To me the name is beautiful. It reminds me that underneath the tremendous sorrow, pain and disappointment I can feel, my heart is a pure place that is whole and un-hurtable.
When I say I have a broken heart, I know what has truly shattered are my stories and ideas of how life should be …… the dreams of a trusted future I was taking for granted … the fantasies of “could have been” and “should have been”.
Could it be that the fierce pain that arises in our heart, is our heart’s own voice asking us to embrace the full spectrum of our humanness by feeling all the emotions that arise?
When we take the risk of fully feeling all that is behind what is breaking in us … if we engage in a vulnerable conversation with our fears, doubts and longings … we can be brought to our knees in awe at the grace, wisdom and unfathomable love of the heart. Here our heart IS broken… broken OPEN by Love itself.
The heart hasn’t shattered like a piece of glass. It’s the breaking open of a cocoon that invites the butterfly to emerge.
I think this is where true compassion and empathy are found…. In the un-struck heart that has broken open to love.
Now, when I remember, and I hear the word “heartbreaking”, I’m going to add “open”.
Heart-Breaking -Open
If this resonates with you, take a moment to reflect on a time when you felt like your heart was breaking…
What was truly breaking?
What was longing to be felt?
What gifts were there for you?
What were you opened to?
… And offer gratitude to Anahata, your beautiful un-struck heart.
Namaste,
Sharon
Hello dear ones,
I’m hanging out in what I’m calling a” post-retreat integration time warp”. Kenneth and I were just at Gaia Sagrada, a retreat center here in Ecuador where we spent two weeks with several amazing Shamans, journeying with the sacred plant medicines, Grandmother Ayahuasca and Grandfather San Pedro.
This was my 60th birthday gift to myself. Time-out-of-time, dropping into a rich alchemy of wisdom and grace. An amazing way to step into a new decade.
For me the retreat was filled with many insights, awakenings and internal shifts. Over time some of the jewels I’ve gathered will flow into my sharings here. For now I’m sharing this poem by Rainer Maria Rilke with you. It’s been very alive in my thoughts and prayers.
I want to free what waits within me
so that what no one has dared to wish for
may for once spring clear
without my contriving.If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.
Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,
streaming through widening channels
into the open sea.
This poem is rich in so many ways but what I keep coming back to is the extraordinary amazement of realizing that no one else has ever sung the same heart’s song that flows from me.
The beautiful uniqueness that we each express is a precious gift no one else can give. You are a wondrous being, beautifully expressing Existence as no one else ever has.
Sing On!
With love and blessings,
Sharon
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