Windows of the Heart

Here we go.

A part of me wants to say wee…wee… wee…wee… all the way home—

I had a moment this morning,

while dancing with myself in the dusky hours before dawn,

that placing my hand on my heart, feeling the pulsing of my heart beat through my chest---

brought a beautiful sense of connection

AND it made me wonder what the world would be like if I placed my hand there often before I spoke out loud or to myself,

and if others did too.

I imagine that contact, that bringing attention to the heart space, would change how I spoke.

I've been doing it today and I'll keep exploring. So far it is inviting a different quality of attention and intention.

(and this is a post continued from the past two newsletters---building up to this writing practice!)

Now.

Drop in.

To the center of your sweet torso.

A titch, perhaps, to the left and honestly wherever you feel the energy move you, or in you.

How is this particular place in and around your body feeling at this moment?

Light, heavy, twitchy, swirly, speedy, achy breaky, spinning, piercing, open,_______

Place your hand on your heart. Feel it beating.

Before I introduce the poem I wanted to share this excerpt I resonated with.

“When Unangan Elders speak of the “heart,” they do not mean mere feelings, even positive and compassionate ones. “Heart” refers to a deeper portal of profound interconnectedness and awareness that exists between humans and all living things. Centering oneself there results in humble, wise, connected ways of being and acting in the world. Indigenous peoples have cultivated access to this source as part of a deep experience and awareness of the profound interdependency between the natural and human worlds. To access it, you must drop out of the relentless thinking that typically occupies the Western mind”. —By Ilarion Merculieff (here is the whole article I got this quote from.) YUMMY!!

How do I/you/we bring our hearts wisdom more fully into our everyday living?

​Here is the poem:

​
​​The Guesthouse

By Rumi

​This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival

​A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

​Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

​The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

​Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

​-by Rumi

​Taken from SELECTED POEMS by Rumi, Translated by Coleman Barks (Penguin Classics, 2004).

Prompts

What may need to be swept out of your heart house to allow new guests?

What is wanting to be invited in?

How do you create more windows and doors?

How can your deepest desires find a way in and out?

Here are some tips on how:

I recommend setting a timer, Not to limit your time, to give yourself time. You can keep going for as long as you want. Five to eight minutes is a good starting place.

Pause to drop into your body. Take a breath.

You could take one prompt a day for four days this week. Or explore in short bursts each prompt, or do only one!

It helps to write as fast as you can and let the pen stay on the paper. You also access different parts of yourself when writing with pen, and paper, and do what works.

Don’t censor yourself. (this is a practice) This is for you to get to know yourself ---not to get it right, be good, like it, or even understand with your mind.

When you get stuck and start thinking and maybe judging what you are writing, go back to the prompt and write it again and again until something fresh comes. It will.

When you are done writing, read what you wrote out loud. Hearing from the outside in, is another way for us to receive ourselves.

Note what touched you, or brought something up, or?

Then move into your day.

Consider holding one of these questions close. Or something you wrote. Not clingy more like a breeze that touches you every once in awhile.

For the next week make a practice of asking your heart what it knows, what it’s sensing, what is it’s experience in the moment.

Cultivation of this knowing can be an eye opening affirmation of the beauty and messiness that is human.

Until next time. Intuition it is!

Love,