THE NATURE OF THE HEART
I was standing on a small wooden bridge and as I looked up I saw the sunlight coming down through the trees and resting it’s brightness at the surface of the water. At that moment, my hair stood on end and it became very clear to me that just like the sun shines, the heart loves. It is the nature of the heart to love freely without holding back.
The heart does not know of ethnical differences, social status, opinions, labels, stereotypes, wants, needs, `etc. It loves with no conditions or expectations. As I stood on the bridge, I was experiencing the presence of LOVE all around me. I had tuned into the subtle frequency of LOVE within my own heart. This was an endless, abundant feeling pourring through my being. It was pulsating in every particle of my being and I could recognize this delicate pulse in all my surroundings.
For as long as I can remember I have been fighting the nature of my own heart. Effortfully repressing the love that naturally flows through my being. During my teens, I felt as if I had to harden the outer edges of my heart in order to protect and prevent myself from getting hurt. I succesfully learn to repress and bury my most full expressions of LOVE especially towards the opposite sex. At the time, I had a challenging relationship with my dad that was based on dissaproving of his behavior which led me to withdrawing my love from him. I deprived myself of experiencing the nature of my own heart for a long time. Instead, I felt as If I had to dominate and repress the feelings that I had mentally judge as bad or inappropriate, unconsciously cutting of a part of my humanity.
Many of us, consciously or unconsciously have become trapped in mental and emotional patterns that strengthen the dynamic of conditional love. We experience a natural human tendency to judge the aspects of others that we do not approve of and choose to withhold our expressions of love until they correct their behavior to what we believe to be right according to our personal standards. This way we are constantly falling prey to the opposite pairs of emotions within our relationships. Meeting what we mentally consider good actions with love and what we consider faults or mistakes in others with indifference, hatred and dissaproval.
The truth is that it requires incredible courage and inner strength to break free from the mental and psychological conditions that constrict the nature of the heart. Breaking free from conditional love begins with ourselves. It requires learning to meet all that we are, specially our mistakes and underdevelop parts with an outpourring of unconditional love and compassion. As we develop a new way of meeting ourselves, we become aware of our innate wholeness.
When we choose to love ourselves and express this LOVE through our thoughts and actions, our divine nature reveals itself to us very easily and almost effortlessly. We can look at ourselves in the mirror and take ourselves in, without judgements or hateful thoughts. We keep on meeting ourselves with great Kindness and understanding. We begin to look for ways of expressing our love for ourselves by making small choices that show that we care for our bodies, for our health, for our minds and hearts. It can be as simple as giving your body enough time to rest or choosing to spare 5 minutes of your day to turn inwards. As we take small steps towards Self love, we begin to experience the physical body as a sacred temple that holds the presence of God within ourselves. Thoughts now begin to uplift and inspire the essence of our being, filling us with great enthusiasm and a zeal for life.
When we meet ourselves with unconditional love, we are also capable of meeting others this way. We recognize all the aspects of others within ourselves. Entering a state of being that has absolutely no differentiation. It becomes very clear that the absolute has taken numerous forms but never cease to be the absolute. As we connect to the nature of the heart, we encounter an infinite well of LOVE within and without. This exquisite feeling pulsates in every cell of our being as the awareness of the divine presence residing in every living being in the universe. When we surrender to the nature of the heart, which is to love fully, completely and passionately, we enter a boundless state of being were our defenses and rigid mental structures melt away so that we can meet one another at the deepest level.