Photo: Blue & tan landscape with fence - Choteau, Montana (2006). Copyright SJPhotography.
Finding and Becoming ‘The Heart of Your World’
What is it that you love? What is it that you care about? What brings you to your knees in awe and wonder? What events, circumstances, or experiences bring you to deep gratitude?
From the world of trauma and chaos, the world is full of complexity and masked with kaleidoscope filters and dark lenses that obscure reason, gratitude, love, logic, and presence. Yet, take a short step away from this place of complexity into simplicity and begin to harvest all that softens you, and brings you joy, gratitude, serenity, and feelings of freedom and self-acceptance.
Drop all that blocks the light, weighs down your heart, mind, and body, and move to what you love and all that brings you a heartened breath of deep relief and peace; of the resonant knowing of your connection and shared being with the whole; of warmth, tenderness, and grace greeting you as a welcome and familiar presence. Drop all else, if only for a moment, and if only a sliver of this knowing meets you – allow this space of simple knowing, of feeling back into yourself and all that you love and adore to embrace you – and relent to its embrace.
A life of inquiry will always keep you straight with yourself and straight with the world. Self-inquiry is pure service.
Life brings struggles, trying times, sickness, loss, and challenges beyond our comprehension yet we still stand here today. We find our way through somehow. Maybe there is no time to wallow in the injustices, and hardships faced so we stuff them down, hide them away, freeze them out or find ways to forget ourselves and our feelings for a while, or we find that playing the victim offers more reward and so that is the way to endure. But throughout, there still rises within us the reminders of what we love, of our innate goodness, of all that brings a smile to our lips, a skip to our feet, and a gentle lullaby to our heart.
Often, the question “who am I?” is floated around as if that is an easy question to answer. If attempted, the complexity of who we are begins to unravel like an endless tome of biographical, geographical, genealogical, and scientific study with anecdotes, cliches, and replayed lines from others’ answers to the same inquiry. We complicate everything that we are not sure of in order to have an answer and find ways to confirm that we know exactly who we are lest we are unable to answer the question about our own sense of self and identity.
There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.
What if there was another way? A way to understand the heart of your world – the true essence and authentic nature of you. How to simply, and exquisitely, and gently find what makes you – you. How to discover the things you love, or renew or revive all that you have loved in the past and may have forgotten or lost in the toils of living. Much of the basics may have changed over the years but what were they and what are they now? Much like writing a love letter to yourself about all the things that you love and appreciate, and are grateful for about you, your life, your experience of being – this is that love letter – that means of opening up to the one that has been with you your whole life, your friend in every hour, and honor and revel in who you are today – in this moment. To truly understand, applaud and love yourself as you come to know your own heart so that you understand how you hold yourself and how you hold the world.
Open your eyes to the beauty around you, open your mind to the wonders of life, open your heart to those who love you, and always be true to yourself.
_Maya Angelou, “Pocket Maya Angelou Wisdom: Inspirational Quotes and Wise Words from a Legendary Icon”
That is why it is so important to know what grounds you, what gives you goosebumps, or makes the hair on your arms stand up in exhilaration, and what brings you excitement and brings your heart and being alive; what stops you in your tracks and ends the thinking mind for a moment – taking you to a place of complete stillness, fullness, and awe.
Let me ask you… what do you love? Music, art, nature, different cultures, work, learning, meditation, vintage rock music, a Scottish accent, poetry or creative writing, animals, architecture, puzzles, reading, the way your cat purrs or your dog looks at you when you pet him/her…
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