Your Generous Heart: Love in the Time of Chaos
I write to you today to remind you of your generous, endless, empathetic, pure and glorious heart. Your heart is the energy center through which your soul communicates to you and to the world. According to research by the HeartMath Institute, your heart has an energy field that is 60 times greater than that of your brain. Yep, the heart has it—it’s the boss, by default.
As I write this California is once again burning. It’s only been 11 months since our own devastating fires here in Ojai. We are at once reminded of the poignancy of being human, as we face cataclysmic climate change with an administration in full drama-denial and reality show level assaults on our human dignity. We in the US are berated by the headlines as we attempt to navigate the destruction of our earth. It’s heavy and it’s real.
So what can we do?
How can you care for yourself while caring for the world?
We can eat less meat. Refuse the straw. Ditch the plastic (it’s fun, really). Stop using one-use cups at the coffeehouse. Drive less. Go organic. Offset our carbon by buying carbon credits for our impact on CarbonFund.Org. We can vote with our dollars and support companies that are actually REFORESTING the rainforests, like Sambazon Acai and Guayaki Yerba Mate.
But what of the duality of these times? The reason the planet is being destroyed is money. Those that cannot afford the luxury of more expensive eco-products, solar panels and hybrids are struggling to make enough money to feed their kids and warm their houses over the winter. They are worried about not having any resources and have very real problems to which the more affluent are often blind.
The place to meet is in the land of non-duality, the place to meet is in the heart.
We must continue to fight with warrior-like focus for our trees and waterways. We must end the use of coal and reduce our personal emissions. But in the meantime, we need to be in the space of the heart because it is the only place where a resolution can be found.
We can care for our heart. We can breathe into our heart and give it the attention it deserves. We can nourish our heart with a hand placed gingerly on our chests, and know that when our brains go numb from so much negativity and fear, our hearts are there to hold and guide us.
Yesterday I was in a state of total exhaustion. With the whole region on fire, sharing our home with our beloved friends who lost theirs, and feeling the weight of the world on my heart, it felt so so heavy. And then my dear friend and healer, Brandy Gillmore texted me and we began sharing love and gratitude for each other, those texts burst the weight over my heart into a thousand pieces, and suddenly, I realized my heart was as strong as the sun, and could regenerate others and nature if I simply gave it the nourishment it needed to work its magic.
Hidden in our hearts is the consciousness, calm and compassion we are seeking.
So today, take care of your heart. Breathe light into it, do things that bring it energy like giving deep gratitude, sharing a kindness, caring for one who has lost their home, or baking a cake and sharing it with your neighbor. Your heart is the most powerful force for good on this planet. Care for it like our world depends on it—because it does.
From my heart to yours,
Zhena
