Life’s journey – the way of the heart…

There is a force within us that inspires us to seek. We set forth on this journey of life to achieve something, to improve ourselves, to unfold our potential, to become better people, to seek the source of our heart. This force is both courageous and inspiring; because of it, our lives are dynamic and filled with possibilities and experiences. After having traveled through many phases of life, perhaps our journey brings us to the door of inner reflection. When this time comes, a magic opens in our life because we embark on a finer path – in a more lucid direction. Where largely we were unaware of many things occurring in and around us, small signals now become significant, subtle movements and energies tell us whole stories. We investigate the subtle consciousness within and our lives begin to change profoundly. We start realizing how important our words and actions are, how important our intent is in each and everything we do. Because all of our actions come from within, we begin to pay attention to our inner mechanism, and our heartspace, and why it is that we do the things we do.

In the process of inner study, we begin to question how free we are as beings as we move in the world. What is our potential? What do we desire from life? What is happiness? Where are we going? We take a deep look within ourselves, asking – "Am I satisfied with my current state of awareness and contribution to the whole"? If I'm not, why is that? What is missing? What is the solution? The desire to understand the subtle nature within ourselves becomes even more pressing as we attempt to the bridge the gap between the obvious reality of the physical body and manifest world, and the inner world of consciousness, awareness and life in its pure, unseen form.

We begin to take initiative and become purer inside. We begin to realize that our heart underlies all of our action. We begin to realize that our outer manifestation and what we create in this world is a direct mirror of our inner space of consciousness. It becomes apparent that if our inner understanding of ourselves is clear, then our outer manifestation follows, and our lives flow in accord easily, and with great awareness will we be able to love and be loved. How important it is to ensure that our inner understanding of ourselves is as best as it can be! How we accomplish this is dependent on our inner vision. We will naturally be drawn to different practices and teachings and philosophies based on our various constitutions and natures. How perfect a formula - and hence, the wide variety of approaches to the way of the heart.

The way of the heart is not only developing compassion within us. It encompasses developing a practical and skillful discrimination. In order to be true to ourselves we must know when to invoke, for example, the role of the tiger that stands strong and does not back down and run in the time of difficulty, while at other times when to carry the spirit of the gazelle, light and agile on its feet and to leap beyond obstacles and obstructions. After some study, we see that to accomplish this we must look first inward to find out from where our power comes, then as the nature of this power becomes tangible, we find ourselves employing that power in the world with heart and discrimination. Here we can check the degree of our strength, the character of wisdom, and the quality of heart that we have acquired along the way and refine our journey as necessary.

Our time here on earth is very precious. If our journey has brought us to the point where we recognize the importance of cultivating our inner awareness, then we must be true to ourselves and follow it to the end. It's our duty to ourselves to expand this channel and aid others on their journey and offer support and inspiration where we can. We are living in a time when many great ideas can be shared without persecution and there is a openness and unity amongst people on the path of awareness. This paves a way for great potential for transformation, and the opening of the heart.

I wish everyone success on his or her journey!