Journey of the Heart, WHY? 03.01.00

Greetings! Welcome to Journey of of the Heart. I am glad you are here. Thank you for being on your own conscious journey, wherever you are on that journey.

I’d first like to acknowledge and thank the three Guest Journeyers–Mary, Lita, and Steve– who will be joining me on this Journey of the Heart. In French, cour means heart, and is -of course- the root of the English word courage. I honor and acknowledge the courage these three have by taking these Journeys publicly, so that all of you can see and read their process. For anyone who has done emotional/spiritual work, you know that it is generally inner and private. Here, you have the opportunity to see the work being done, so that you may find your own courage to dig deep into your inner self, and add your light to our collective journey. Thank you for your being, your work, your light, your participation.

For those of you who are new here, welcome. This is a site where contemplative journaling (or in this case drawing/painting/coloring!) lifts your consciousness into higher states of being through daily reading/expression based on statements of Truth of who you are. More information can be found through links on the homepage.

We begin by thinking and writing a little bit about why we care to connect with the heart…what is important (to you) about this Journey? Take a minute to reflect… then, let’s go!

Steve

Why? Why would I embark on a Journey of the Heart?

During the Journey of Peace, I realized that Peace comes from the heart, not from my mind. My experiences of Oneness come from the heart, not my mind. So much of my study is with the mind. My direct experiences were of the heart. I want more of that in my life.

After completing the Journey of Peace, I reviewed the 2020 schedule of journeys, and the one that leapt out at me was the journey of the heart. I felt a sense of purpose in the journey of peace, and I would like to create that again, and focus more on my heart energy. Our heart is our lifeblood, literally. Without heart, I would have no life. Without heart, my mind is simply recording facts. The way to my feelings is through my heart. Compassion and kindness come through my heart energy. It is in my heart that I experience Love. So, I want more Peace and Love in my Life.

A journey of the Heart is a fitting commitment for the New Year, as we begin new cycles of Life and Love.

Mary

WHY?

Because I’m terrified of this Journey. Because my mind is saying “no, no, NO!” Because my heart is saying “Yes, yes, YES!” Because I’m saying “Why?” while my husband is saying “Why not?” Because messages from the Universe are repeatedly saying “jump, jump in with both feet”. While I’m a creative person in a number of areas, I don’t consider myself to be “an artist”, and this Journey calls for art from the heart. I promised myself late last year that I would work (play?) at making original art. I promised that, for this Journey, I would step away from art “kits” originated by others and would venture out into the uncharted domain of art that I source myself. Yes, the greeting cards I’ve been making for years involve the creativity of matching images and colors and designs in my own unique way. And you may see some of those here. But I sometimes want to express myself differently. I want to sketch and draw and paint and even photograph at a new level. I might learn that I’m good at some of these things, or not. I might learn that it really doesn’t matter if I’m “good” from any one else’s perspective. In a singing group I belong with, I used to sing quietly, afraid that I wasn’t in tune. A friend in the group suggested that I let go of my ego, of what others might think, and simply sing. It made all the difference. I might learn the lesson I sometimes speak to others, that “fear is excitement without breath”. Breath – it’s intimately connected to the heart. So, I’m going to breathe into this Journey and give it my “all”, from the bottom of my heart!

Lita

I am sitting at the back gate, this indirect entry to my heart. I am prompted to identify and describe this place from two, albeit separate, descriptions of heart meditations on the same day. Both meditations were focused on the back of the heart. I had just committed to this journey and who knew that I would be directed to the back of my heart?

My felt sense of this back space of my heart is that it is firm and rigid. My visual impression is that the door is dry and the hinges rusty. Unattended bushes and weeds abound.

It is the front door of my heart which has been open, well-manicured with meditation, and well-practiced in the giving and the allowing of entry.

This back entrance of my heart is my new edge. It will require much patience (not a word that others would use to describe me) to tend to this portion of the portal. So, for these next 40 days, I am invited to sit in this space and not run (to my head), to see and feel what emerges. I have no idea, as yet, how I will interact with this landscape, but I do know that it is necessary for my journey.

And my commitment to write holds me accountable to myself and my community.

The other day, I watched Disney’s Malificent 2. There came a point in the movie where a war began between the humans and the Moor Folk. There was death and destruction, albeit in family-friendly Disney style. Even so, I couldn’t handle the violence. I thought about real-world “others”, represented by the Moor Folk (we are all other at some point in our lives); I thought about the death, displacement, destruction, violence, abuse, and harm humans do to each other, and to others. I thought about how long this has been going on. I cried. I friggin’ cried at the violence in a Disney movie.

No. I cried for humanity. What is this world, that even Disney movies use violence to make their point? Where are the movies where wisdom and peace prevail in advance, stopping violence before it ever begins? “Im so tired of the violence”, I thought. “I feel like I’ve lived in and through millenia of this human violence”. Maybe I have.

The next day, Trump started a premptive war with Iran, claiming it was “defensive”. Another war. SMDH.

In Malificent, it was just one person with a vendetta who sowed seeds of fear and hatred in her kingdom, which started the war.

Seeds only grow in soil conducive to their nourishment. The people of the kingdom had to have agreed in their own minds that the Moor Folk were a threat; they had to have had hatred, distrust, and fear in their hearts for the Queen’s propaganda against the Moor Folk to take root–the Queen herself even explains it this way in the movie.

How do we end violence? We decide-in our own minds- what seeds we want to nourish. Then we root-out any seedlings that are unlike the ones we want, and we fertilize the ones we want. Or another analogy, based on a Native American proverb…

A tribal elder is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he says to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two dogs. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”

He continues, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asks his grandfather, “Which dog will win?”

The chief simply replied,”The one you feed.”

Why do I want to do a Journey of the Heart? Because I want gentleness, joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith, in myself and in the world.

Let it begin with me. May I be the change that I want to see in the world. May my heart be so full of love that no seed of violence can even begin to take root or sprout. May I walk in a peace so pervading that all I encounter feel the peace and joy also within their hearts; may this ignite a light of peace so strong within them that they want to pass it on.