We Are One Heart
We begin as tiny seeds, every single one of us. Why some people grow up to be bullies, loud mouths, or people who seek to dominate others is incomprehensible to me. Regardless of the most inhumane behavior and suffering we may witness, we are bearers of light. I can’t emphasize that enough because Jesus says:
He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5:45
A community with which I’m intimately connected was attacked by a terrorist. The residents were without electricity for several days. City and county officials worked around the clock—assessing damages, conducting repairs on the electrical grid, and eventually restoring energy. The gravity of the domestic violence needs to be highlighted: over 40,000 families were without heat and the basic services that a county usually provides. Without power businesses and schools were closed, access to medical services was suspended, banks and grocery stores were unable to provide services, restaurants were closed, tons of food spoiled and went to waste. Everything was closed. It was as if time had stopped, frozen in a very uncomfortable state by a senseless human act.
Lest you think I’m relaying a story from a third world country, think again. This happened a little over a week ago in the United States. From a distance I felt helpless, but I also felt deeply connected to those neighbors, just 37 miles north of me. What was that connection that surfaced across the miles in a time of fear and anxiety?
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in the land of deep darkness—on them light has shined. Isaiah 9:2
That the community demonstrated a great deal of resilience is beyond remarkable. There are still many unanswered questions. With all the talk about safety, those five days demonstrated how vulnerable any of us can become in a heartbeat. We like certainty and the assurance of specific routines, however, we are not protected from the evilness and sheer insanity of others. As bearers of light sometimes all we can do is demonstrate faith and glow with the luminescence we were born with because that is what aware people do and how we behave affects everything around us.
This is the time of year that those who profess Christianity are looking, listening, thirsting, waiting for the incarnation of God on earth. It is indeed a very sacred and holy season. We celebrate a birth through a young woman and bear witness to the joy of a new life; beyond just giving and receiving gifts.
High level heart resonance fills the atmosphere. Meister Eckhart said:
God is born in the heart and the heart is born in God.
Oh, if we could live into that essence every day of the year.
The light of which I’m speaking is also a renewed life, a rebirth for us and how we want to be in the world. If we are indeed rising in consciousness we are establishing practices and rituals whether daily or seasonally which support lifting up our spirits and that of others to higher and greater depths. Rumi poses a question and then reminds us to look inside:
Why are you knocking at every door? Go knock at the door of your own heart.
Our heart speaks to us in many ways. Beyond the concept of a mere pump, the heart’s sensitivity is cosmic and often underestimated.
According to Ilia Delio in Hunger Hunger for Wholeness—
The mystics help us realize that when the inner universe is stronger than the outer universe, then the soul has a depth of freedom and light that shapes how one sees the world.
When I was first introduced to HeartMath nearly two decades ago, I participated in some of their early experiments. I had no idea what to expect, but for sure I developed some necessary heart awareness and what I can now recognize as skills in heart resonance that have remained a part of my life. Since 1991, HeartMath Institute developed a system of scientifically validated tools to engage individuals and communities in embodiment or conscious heart entrainment and to recognize what a state of coherence without stress and with renewed energy feels like in our bodies.
One Hundred Thousand Beats
Sentimentalized with a special day;
memories of youthful romances
like hummingbird wings send my heart fluttering.
No mere pump,
life its fullest function.
Called to attention—an unsynchronized blip
signaling potential physical danger;
we grasp and grab our heart chakra.
A secret courier centered in our body
encasing intimate secrets, the heart’s inner landscape knows
joy and sorrow, love and forgiveness, truths and lies.
Hardy as dicentra spectabilis,
harmonious rhythms in less than 12 ounces synchronizes our entire
being.
Awake to this action or ignorant of its impact: 100,000 beats per day
keeps you alive.
Responding from that inner place takes practice and awareness so that we can navigate the folds and entanglements that life presents. Being and living from our hearts is the seat of compassion.
This is no pipe dream but a necessary antidote to the pain, suffering, and hatred that looms over our world and seems to be proliferating. The originator of HeartMath, Doc Childre says:
Accessing our heart’s natural intelligence can create an energetic field of unconditional love and harmonious interactions - helping humanity to realize we are one Earth, one yard, one people.
Learn more about the HeartMath Institute at heartmath.org and explore a plethora of free courses and resources to aid in your personal growth and heart resonance as we collectively evolve into a more humane and compassionate society. You may want to download 12 HeartMath Tools for Reducing Stress and Staying Balanced.
In the meantime, let your light shine in the darkness.