Power of the Heart

My talk last week on Heart-Based Living got me thinking about one of the first times I made a visceral connection to the power of my own heart. I still very much remember the day, three years ago. I was struggling with a decision I had made to distance myself physically from a difficult family member. After years of heart-ache, I had decided to stop participating in the chaos and instead send care. On this particular afternoon, I had begun the oh-so-familiar pattern of worry but in midstream remembered my commitment to send care. I sat down and began a series of heart-felt statements, envisioning them first for myself and then for my family member:

May you be happy,
may you be healthy and strong,
safe and protected,
free from inner and outer harm.
May you live in your world with ease and grace.*

As I completed my last well-wishing phrase, the phone rang, punctuating the silence. Amazingly, I heard the voice of my loved one on the machine and rose from the couch to answer. In the twenty-two years since moving far from home, I could have counted on one hand the number of times this family member had called. I picked up and replied, "I was just praying for you and me." What followed was one of the best conversations we had ever shared. When we hung up, I was convinced that tremendous power lied not in statements of well-wishing but rather in the shift of my perception.

A journey of the heart began as I started consciously tending the ephemeral parts of me and my loved one: in dreams, in letters, in phone calls. I continued to maintain physical distance, investing instead in the power of my heart.

Three years after I committed to heart-based care, my loved one passed away. When I attended the funeral, family assumed I harbored regret over not seeing him before he died. Words could not explain how completely opposite of regret I felt--instead, through the softening of my own heart over the years, I experienced complete reconciliation. A few hours before my loved one's passing, I was gifted with a face-to-face visit with him in a dream. It prepared me for the transformation that was about to take place. Throughout the dream references to the heart abounded.


*adapted from traditional Metta or "Loving-Kindness" phrases

Happy Valentine's Day

What does it mean to live with more heart? Treat yourself to a no-charge retreat this Valentine's weekend as we explore the body's physiological response to stress and simple, skillful ways to access the intelligence of the heart and literally change the body's response. Results will be tested using HeartMath emWave technology--a simple biofeedback tool  built on over two decades of research that puts intangible emotions such as love and care into visible and subjective results.

InnerConstellation.com delivers services based on this philosophy: body is the gateway to health and well being and heart is the master regulator. Hope to see you this Friday, February 15 for a fun, interactive heart-filled evening.