All right,
Let's take a moment and close our eyes.
And recognize your mood this morning.
Notice where in the body is that sensation,
That emotion,
Where normally there's these three psychosomatic centers,
The belly,
The chest,
And the throat.
So the way I understand an open heart has to do with vulnerability.
And vulnerability has a lot to do with accepting our human self,
Meaning that we're fragile.
That we are in a way instinctively animals with fear,
With survival.
The mind-body system,
There's this very ingrained feeling of smallness,
Of individuality,
But in a big world.
That often makes one of our basic emotions fear.
And it's okay,
It's not necessarily a bad thing because fear is an emotion about protection,
About protecting ourselves.
So in this world,
It is important to have fear to survive.
But once we're moving into the spiritual world,
Where we embrace a greater truth about our essential being,
We're invited to let go of fear because in our true essence,
There is no death.
Death is related to the body-mind,
Not to the self.
So when we meditate,
We embrace our human self.
We embrace the beauty of fear,
The naturalness of it.
We release any resistance to it.
We allow ourselves to feel the fear and to embrace it in our awareness.
That does not mean that we are swayed by it or we choose to be slaved by the fear.
It just means that we are at peace with having it.
And it reminds us of our vulnerability,
Of our imminent self,
The self that dies.
It reminds us of death.
And it's important to remember death.
It's important to remember that we're going to die in this shape and form so that we let go,
So that we don't cling to the shapes and forms that we have become accustomed to.
And death is so natural.
We have been accustomed to changing.
We're not anymore the kid,
We're not anymore the teenager.
So many changes in life.
We're not anymore the doctor.
Not so much more the dad that was raising the kids,
The different eras that appear in life.
And we die to the other era.
And life is like that.
It's a river that changes.
And there are small cycles of change,
Like the breath.
And there are big cycles of change,
Like birth and death.
Those are big cycles.
But they're all cycles.
But there's something within us that witnesses the cycles.
The cycle of the breath.
The cycle of the heartbeat.
The cycle of the years and the month,
The moon and the sun.
And the cycle of our psychological self.
And everything is changing.
And yet there is something within you that is always simply aware of the cycles.
Aware of the changer.
Aware of the fear.
Aware of the sadness.
Aware of the joy.
And there's a pleasure in being aware.
There's a pleasure in simply being.
Being aware.
Being and awareness are always happening.
And meditation is becoming aware of that.
That by simply being,
You are also aware.
And there are moments of thoughts,
Cycles of thought,
And then you go back into awareness.
So feel everything that is happening within you right now.
The breath.
The heartbeat.
The sensation of fear,
Or whatever it is in the throat,
Maybe somewhat in the chest.
The noises around you.
The tensions in the body.
The mind and its commentaries.
And there you are,
Aware of all of it.
Meditation is standing in awareness.
In your fundamental self,
And leaving that understanding by being in touch with that part of yourself.
There's a subtle remembrance of who you really are,
Moment by moment.
And yet at the same time that you are this content awareness,
The small self,
The ego,
It's also happening.
Fear,
Thought,
Sensations are happening.
And both happen at the same time.
A tiredness might be there.
Can you feel it?
So an open heart is that part of you that can embrace all of it with love.
The contrary of that is the guarded heart,
The repressing heart that goes into the mind and tries to avoid reality.
The shielded heart that doesn't want to feel.
Denial always of not accepting reality.
The tired heart embraces reality,
Appreciates that it is ephemeral.
So as you are aware of your throat and the horror you might have noticed as you do this,
The sensations change.
You soften.
As you keep feeling the sensations in the chest and throat,
The sensations move and morph.
The mind becomes more quiet.
Stillness starts arising.
And yet you want to remain aware of the stillness of the subtle sensations within.
How is the throat?
How is the chest?
How is the belly?
How is the spine?
Can I be with what I am experiencing?
Simply aware.
Can I allow everything that is arising now?
Can I soften?
Can I remain curious?
Can I remain open?
Can I remain open?
