Hello friends,
Today's mini-practice is about leading with the heart.
The last mini-practice I offered was about telling the truth and truth without love is hollow.
So here we focus on the heart.
The invitation here is that the next time you encounter someone,
It could be a family member,
A stranger,
Co-worker,
Try leading with your heart.
And let yourself ground in your body,
Feel yourself breathe for a moment.
You may have seen pictures of the sacred heart of Jesus,
Which often depict him with his physical heart showing with a radiant light coming out of it,
As if he's pulled his heart out of his chest to offer it to others.
So closing your eyes now,
Picture your own sacred heart.
Picture your own radiant heart,
Glowing like that image of the sacred heart.
Letting your love and your natural kindness flow out.
No need to force anything here,
Just letting your heart radiate to the degree that you feel comfortable,
Watching it change,
Seeing if the light grows stronger,
And noticing if you feel a subtle change in your energy body when you do this.
It's normal to feel hesitant or fearful about opening our heart to others this way,
But what we're talking about here is not the human emotional heart.
It's the spiritual heart,
It's the sacred heart that can never be harmed.
You can open the sacred heart to yourself,
To your own fear,
To your own anxieties.
Opening the radiance of your sacred heart to old thought patterns that recur,
Thought patterns that insist you have to protect yourself at all times.
Sometimes our human hearts do need protecting.
The spiritual heart cannot be harmed and wants to shine.
It's robust and it's capable.
The meditation teacher Adyashanti writes about the first time he did this practice of energetically leading with the heart.
He was walking down the street and he imagined reaching out and opening his energetic body whenever he passed a stranger and letting that sacred heart shine on them.
And he talks about how astonishingly different it felt simply walking down the street with that kind of attitude,
How it changed the whole quality of his being,
How it felt like an intimate encounter even if he never looked at the person or the person never looked back.
It's the experience of having one's heart open,
Of leading with the power of the heart.
Not a bleeding heart,
But a strong heart,
A powerful heart,
The kind of love that can transform.
When we lead with our hearts in this way,
It changes the whole tone of our being.
It changes the words that we choose.
And it does this spontaneously,
Even when we don't intend for it to happen.
And when we're heartful,
We naturally encourage others to be heartful as well,
Even without saying a word.
So the invitation today is whenever you encounter another person passing them on the street or otherwise,
Imagine you're reaching out and opening your energetic body,
Opening your heart to let your heart shine on that person for whatever they need in that moment.
It only takes a few seconds.
You might think of it as a radiant quality of sunshine glowing out of your chest.
And notice when you do this,
You naturally sense the other person's sacred heart too.
No matter what their state or condition,
You can sense the radiance within.
It might be very subtle,
But it's there.
And the more you do this over time,
You'll develop an intuition of your heart.
And with each person you encounter,
You'll be naturally more likely to lead with your heart rather than your head.
You'll still say whatever you need to say or interact in whatever way is needed,
But you'll be doing this through the power of your heart,
Leading with the heart.
This practice can also be done with trees,
With birds,
With flowers,
With objects.
You can lead with the heart towards anything you encounter.
And it will transform your own experience of life.
Allow your experience to be vivid,
Really picture the glow of your heart.
Feel your loving heart and all that it encounters today.
And enjoy,
Enjoy this contact with your own heart and all that it meets.
Be well,
My friend.
