AGAINST OUR WILL

“As an inlet cannot close itself to the sea that shapes it, the heart can only wear itself open.”
~ Anonymous

One of the hardest blessings to accept about the heart is that in the image of life itself, it will not stop emerging through experience. No matter how we try to preserve or relive what has already happened, the heart will not stop being shaped.

This is a magnificent key to health: that, despite our resistance to accept that what we’ve lost behind us, despite our need at times to stitch our wounds closed by reliving them, and despite our heroic efforts to preserve whatever is precious, despite all our attempts to stop the flow of life, the heart knows better. It know that the only way to truly remember or stay whole is to take the best and worst into its tissue.

Despite all our intentions not to be hurt again, the heart keeps us going by moving us ever forward into health. Though we walk around thinking we can direct it, our heart is endlessly shaped like the land, often against our will.

~ Center yourself, and bring to mind one precious moment you’d like to preserve.

~ As you breathe, let in the life that is presently around you - the quality of light, the temperature, the sounds coming and going.

~ Breathe steadily and try not to choose one over the other. Simply allow the precious memory and the precious moment to tenderly become one.

The Book of Awakening

~ Mark Nepo