Enlightened Horizons

Greetings all! 

So in the past four days I've told this to five or more people, so apparently I'm supposed to write about it!  This is about healing your heart.  So many people that I work on or do readings for have such closed off hearts.  I'm on eof THOSE people, in fact!  There's often very valid reasons for shutting it down but it's so important to realize that so you can allow love to flow.  I will be doing this exercise for the next week (and perhaps longer) when I go to sleep and try to open up my heart to give and recieve love more freely and I invite you to do it as well. 

First of all, why do we lock it up so tightly?  You may have lost a spouse and you never fully grieved or you're afraid of being hurt again.  You may have been in a relationship and been hurt so badly you never want to feel that pain again.  Or as a child you may not have been loved, or throughout your life you may not have ever felt loved, so why not just make sure you don't get hurt?  Sure.  Lock it up.  What if you did love and you were wounded when they left you and you just didn't get it?  Put a layer of ice over that heart then, too.  Now you're locked and cold.  Doesn't feel very good, does it?  What if you lost a child?  My heart would probably just disappear if I lost Zach.  It takes a strong person to allow love to flow after that.  And it happens every day, so it is possible.  I think you get my point, but I could go on and on.  So take a moment and ask if you know the reason your heart is being protected.  And then ask yourself are you open to giving and receiving love?  And do you want to feel love?  I hope you said yes.

Physically we can tell when the heart is closed, although it often takes a session with someone like me to point it out to you.  Heartburn, indigestion, acid reflux, or just a general tightness are examples of how the emotional piece of protecting a wounded heart can manifest.  How tight are your muscles?  I  have to say I have a new perspective when I see the people who work out so much create that firm wall of muscle around their chest... I want to ask them if they're happy, but I know better.  Usually.  Have you ever just had a tight feeling or a weight in your chest?  You may have all the medical tests done and they just can't find anything.  Strange, huh?  Or is it emotions that you're holding on to?  Food for thought. 

Lets get to the good stuff.  How can you open your heart?  Here's a simple exercise I use with people during hypnosis and reiki sessions.  You're going to have to read it and then try it, because I'm going to ask you to close your eyes while you do it.  So with your eyes closed, imagine a closed flower over your heart.  It's closed up tight.  It may be a rose, a tulip, a peony, whatever you see or feel is good and right for you.  What color is it?  And how does it feel?  Does it want to open?  If you get a no, ask why?  What emotion does this closed flower represent or feel?  Be open to whatever you get.  Ask it if it's ready to open up a tiny bit.  You may get a clear NO but if you get a yes, try to let it blossom just a little bit.  Could you get it to open?  How did that feel?  What color is the flower now?  What emotion does it feel or represent?  What do you need to know?  Why does it want to stay closed?  If you get an answer, ask if it's ready to let go of any old habits or patterns that are no longer serving your greater good, and ask to let go of them.  Take a deep breath in, and as you exhale let that emotion or reason flow out of your body, so it's no longer able to hold you back from love.  Once you can feel the color and energy of your heart, connect it to your brain. You can do this by imagining a lightbulb that is screwed in (or just fueled by) your heart, going up through your neck and into your head, creating that light and giving off comfortable warmth. Or you can just imagine that light in your heart spreading throughout your body. Again, play with it and see what feels good. When you get something that feels stuck, acknowledge it, take a breath, and let it go.

Keep playing with this, see how far you can get the flower to open.  It may not want to open at all, and that's fine.  But ask why.  Then ask what it needs to feel safe and open to the possibility of love.  Listen to what you get or feel for answers.  If you can't seem to picture the flower, do it with colors.  Or imagine  a block or wall of ice, or a huge icicle over your heart.  Can you get it to melt?  There are so many ways to do this and if you want to, find what works and feels best for you.  There's no wrong way to do it.  People always ask me what the colors mean.  Who knows?  Thats not true.  I do.  But it's not what I know them to be, it's what they feel like to YOU that's important.  YOU have all of the answers in your soul and your spirit.  It's just figuring out how you can tap into them.

Why is it so important to give and receive love?  Its part of why we're here.  We need love.  It's important to be able to both give and receive.  If you don't figure that out, your relationships with a loved one can suffer or not exist.  Your patterns will continue.  It doesn't matter how much you say I love you if your heart isn't speaking.  Your head, mouth and heart all have to be connected.  Practice this.  Have fun with it.  Learn, grow and evolve by opening your heart.  Now I guess I have to practice what I preach.....  Maybe a future post will be about my experiences, or I'll keep you updated on facebook... So stay tuned.  And good luck!

Love,

Sara