Having an Open Heart

We all know that our brains are more sophisticated than the most advanced computers, but scientists have also discovered that our hearts have an intelligence as well, not with words but with emotions/feeling, a radiating center of energy. That energy that we radiate from our heart actually touches and affects others. So, whatever feeling we hold in our hearts is impacting us and the rest of the world. In this present moment, each of us has an opportunity to examine what kind of energy we are holding inside of us as well as sending out into the world. Knowing this, we can make choices for how we want to be in the world, and how we can have a positive impact on ourselves and others. In the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians, it says, “We shall all be changed, in a moment, faster than a blink of the eye.” Each of us can be changed for the better that quickly, in this very moment.

In this moment, we can choose to have an open heart, which means allowing the love in our hearts to radiate out. The open heart is like a two-way path—one direction tells us not to initiate or express any words or actions that can be hurtful to another. The second direction is to accept others with understanding and compassion, wherever they are, how ever they are, at any given moment.

If someone’s words or action are negative or perhaps even attacking nature, you have a choice to remain in their presence or remove yourself from it, but an open heart continues to hold them in the light, even when they are acting in an unlovable and unacceptable way. The open heart gives us access to a deeper understanding of others. We may not know all the details of a person’s life or understand what happened to make them the way that they are, but we can understand that they are doing the best they can with the situations life has given them.

Through the deeper understanding that comes from an open heart, we can move to a place where we don’t take responsibility for the way another person acts towards us, but we do take responsibility for how we react towards them.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus teaches us about having an open heart. The good person, out of the good treasure of his heart produces good. The abundance of what we hold in our heart is the abundance of how we experience the world. Jesus told us to not see our treasure as that of the material world, because those things can be stolen or corrupted or waste away. But rather, we can store up our treasure in our heart, where it is unaffected by worldly things. The place where your treasure is, is the way you will end up being.

There are three lessons of the open heart. First, always assume the best about somebody until there is factual evidence to prove otherwise. With the lack of fully understanding another person, the imagination comes into play, which can spin a false and unfair judgment. Imagine the best in others.

The second lesson is the power of the Golden Rule—treat others the way you want to be treated. How is that we all want to be treated? We want to be respected and seen as a valuable part of this world. We want to be understood. We want others to understand that even though our behavior isn’t ideal at times, that we are trying and we are doing the best we can in any situation. We want to be loved, which in its simplest form is acceptance. We want to be encouraged. From time to time, we need to be told that we are doing fine, and that we have the potential to do better.

The third lesson of the open heart is that the affect we have on the world around us radiates out from us and touches those around us. It is exactly the same effect that we see the world having on us. So each of us can choose today, in this very moment, to open our hearts and let love flow out in all directions, love for ourselves and all others. We can change our lives in the blink of an eye…