Awakening Your Heart

Thanks to the Internet, you are reading a very old version of my blog. I would say that at the time, I was writing from a place of non-localized love, which is different from the deeper version of unconditional love. For more about what I mean, you can check out this newer post about heart awakenings and openings.

Heart Openings Are Intoxicating!

You will start to notice that these topics all blend after awhile in this awakening section. While this section won’t “awaken” you per se, it’s blending together important elements. My hope in all my writing is that these ideas lead you to a richer life if nothing else. And at the center of a rich happy life is a life full of love, full of heart.

Awakening to Love in Everything

I’ve talked about how to open a closed heart and heal a broken heart. I’ve talked about how this path leads to unconditional love of everything and everyone–including yourself, especially yourself. In every way, the further down this path you go, the more you realize that love is the central hub for everything. It’s at the center of this wheel, and the more you activate it, the more everything flows into and out of your life.

It’s Time to Love Everyone–Including Your Enemies

I had a subhead in an earlier section about not having to love everyone yet. Well, now it’s time. If you’ve done all the work to open your heart, this will start to come naturally. You’ll start to see how most people you consider “enemies” or “antagonists” are merely projections of yourself. They become counterpoints to you and show you the blindspots in your own personality. You learn how to handle them with a sense of clarity, and you learn how to treat yourself with a sense of love around them. In really abusive situations, this means leaving the situation and the person. Because being abused never is an irrational choice. And that person may need to get some serious help.

You may need serious help too, but as I said, if you’ve come to this part, hopefully, you’ve already been working on the healing that is needed.

Using a Spiritual Teacher as a Therapist

Opening Up on Every Level to Love

This is a big thing and a transformative thing. Opening up on every level means you’ll be speaking with love, thinking in love, acting in love, and so much more. I know this is using the word “love” an awful lot, but it’s truly who we are when we strip away the cynicism, the self-hate, the despair, the sadness, and all the other crappy things we’ve piled on top of ourselves. We really understand that we are all love, and from that space, we re-create our lives.

And this isn’t the co-dependent kind of love that clings to others. This love is strong and accountable. Someone who truly loves themselves and is awakened won’t tell you what to do. They’ll connect to you through invitation. It’s such a very different space–things are never taken, they are offered, received, and given. An awakened heart person doesn’t want to hurt anyone, and this person sees how everyone is interconnected. They are interested in a deeper kind of harmony than the external one that most people are used to. Peace on the surface is not peace underneath. Internal peace is the goal, and so the loving actions taken by an awakened heart are always towards this internal peace, which at times will likely stir the waters.

Giving and Receiving Flow

If you are ready to move into a deeper space of heart, practice giving and receiving equally. Both are critical. There is this unfounded notion that you should always be giving. That will simply deplete you and deprive you of the joy of receiving–and the joy of someone else being able to give to you. They are a beautiful pair, so where they both are, bliss can truly manifest.

Having a spiritual connection with friends is an amazing thing on the energy level. Sitting across from someone who is open allows the energy of connection to naturally move. It always feels like it is growing. So if the other person offered energy to me, what I give back is now bigger because of what was offered. And what the other person returns is even bigger because of the combination of our earlier offerings. The energy grows and grows as walls come down, and our souls naturally move towards union.

When I say union, I don’t mean sex. I know it’s hard to even wrap your mind around some of this. We’ve all been separate for far too long. But since we are all interconnected, our hearts and souls are always looking to re-merge together. It’s like a whole set of magnets wanting to pull back together. From the space of connection, two friends or even business partners can do amazing things in the world with great integrity.

Giving and Receiving: Tips to Open the Heart More Deeply

I want to ground this blog post since the idea of energy moving between people may still be rather esoteric for most. Essentially everything is energy, so you can do this with a physical object. Find a friend to share gifts with at least once a week. It can be buying each other dinner, creating something like a poem or piece of art for one another, or even buying beer for each other. Whatever works for you. But when you make the offering and when you are about to receive one, really focus on what you’re feeling. This will help you to see where you are still holding back.

If you’re a giver and you suddenly don’t feel like you can give, just note the feeling. See what happens when you do it anyway. You should talk to your friend about this.

If you are the receiver and you don’t want to receive, note that emotion. Where did it come from? Why do you feel that way? Then see what happens when you receive. Discuss your experiences together, and continue this practice for at least six weeks. See what comes up.

As you go along, you should start to feel a growing sense of connection with your friend too. It may feel very different than other relationships because so many other relationships end up lopsided. One person is always the giver; the other is always the receiver. The sharing isn’t mutual, and that can be depleting. The receiver may want to be able to give back but not know how. The giver may get sick of always having to give or do everything. A relationship breaks under this strain.

Love Always Starts With You

Heart awakening always starts with you, so as you go, you’re going to discover more of your internal barriers to love. As you release them, you’re going to have more space in your life to give and receive. Much of the awakening path is about creating more and more space for us to be with any situation in integrity and in love. To do so, we have to melt away all those places inside that are still full of pain. Just let it go. You’ve been doing the work. You don’t need a reason to keep this stuff anymore. You don’t need to hurt. Just let it all go so that love can come back in, and if you’re in the right space in this life, the spark of awakening may come with it too.

Building a Heart Strong Enough for Awakening

Next blog: Awakening Love in Relationships