Heart-opening Suggestions

Heart-opening Suggestions

Are you someone who is feeling a desire to live more open-heartedly? Or maybe you're having experiences of more open-heartedness and are feeling a bit disoriented by them?

As I'm often asked for some spiritual guidance in these situations, I thought I'd write some suggestions up here, for whatever value you might glean. Feel free to comment and add your own experiences and/or suggestions!

These are NOT in order of importance or time-priority or simplicity, just random order.

Put your attention on your heart area whenever you think of doing so. 

Imagine, remember, or feel now, appreciating something. That vibe brings coherence to your physical and energetic "hearts," according to the HeartMath Institute's research. I recommend getting to know their work and their practices.

Place your hand on your heart. Just feel how that feels, and notice what happens.

Imagine your breathing goes in and out of your heart itself. 

All four of those can be done separately or combined mix-and-match. They are no big deal: you can do them anytime, anyplace, for as long as you wish: several seconds to several minutes. And just notice what happens, as you do.

Lying down, on your back, you or someone else can hold a pendulum (small object on a string or chain several inches long) steady over your heart area and just watch what it does. 

Ideally it will swing in a circle several inches wide, clockwise from the point of view of the hand. Any other pattern indicates incoherent heart energy, and will, if the pendulum is held for awhile, tend to normalize in that direction. 

As it does, you might experience emotions, memories, spontaneous body movements, so be prepared to allow all that to move through you like a wave, not holding onto any of it. The force of healing knows what it's doing, and you haven't a clue.

You can do that as often as you like, for as long as you like.

Begin to intend to become aware of which feelings/emotions you are experiencing in your heart area. Is that where you experience love? What else is there: grief, heart-ache, longing, sadness, regret, forgiveness? Just become more aware. The awareness itself is healing and activating toward health, no matter what you find there now.


If you read and search around, you will find many guided meditations available in print and audio and video formats to cultivate heart-opening; experiment with them and find the ones you experience as most useful -- and expect the most useful ones to change over time, as your heart becomes more open, more "intelligent" in its natural functioning, and you move to the next stage of development. 

Find people you regard as living open-heartedly and hang out with them. You'll learn a lot and be changed a lot just by their transmission and your own "osmosis" -- the way we learn as children, mostly by subconscious observing and imitation. You can also converse with them and learn that way too. 

A variation on this is to be around animals and/or children that you find heart-activating. This goes also for movies, videos, books, artworks, and music, etc. Just notice and experience and welcome and explore, your responses.

If you're into it, ask your Guides, Angels, Spirit-healers, for help in having a more healthy, natural heart-chakra, (or whatever words you use for your own intention) and follow their guidance. Your intention itself, and also their guidance, will generate the impulses that if you follow them, will bring the best resources and experiences to you. 

You might "contemplate" the words "open heart" (or whatever your own phrase is), just by keeping your attention on the phrase, repeating it occasionally for some minutes, and write down or speak-record whatever insights arise for you. 

You might also "inquire" on your own questions or beliefs about heart, in the same way. (The difference is that contemplation has a shorter object of attention, and is somewhat more meditative. These two powerful modes of spiritual growth are described at length in Adyashanti's marvelous book The Way of Liberation.)

For example, does being open-hearted mean to you only having more compassion? Does it mean only being kinder? Does it mean only "feeling loving" more often? What else might it mean to you? Explore the delights of many new meanings and experiences.

If you find it useful, you can create experiences of the standard colors of the heart chakra (green, pink, gold) and/or you can use images that you find heart-activating, whether they are symbols or pictures, or even stories you read. 

Maybe a piece of jewelry that hangs from a necklace over your heart, reminding you to attend there, or which even activates your heart energy.

A very important "practice" of heart-opening is to be sure to allow your own heart its full expression. Act on heart-impulses when you feel them, if you deem that OK for your and others' well-being. 

The results might be unexpectedly delightful or unpleasant, but you'll be learning how to live with a stronger heart energy in this world. 

Part of this practice is to get clearer and clearer over time, about what your own intention is: what way do you want to be living, with respect to your heart?

Another practice, which you might need some guidance from a spiritual counselor for, is exploring the current relationship of your heart chakra to your other chakras. Which ones are inhibiting which ones, and how could the interactions among them all, be encouraged to become more free-flowing, open, healthy? 

In this regard, you might explore some Tantra teachings which can help integrate heart energy and sexual energy.  

Check your posture. Can't easily keep an open heart chakra when your chest is all contracted, when you're hunched forward. Work on retraining, keeping your whole body relaxed, including stomach, throat, and heart areas. 

That will probably bring up a lot of "shadow" material to heal ! Be sure to get professional help if you need it.

Most of us have unnaturally closed hearts to protect us from re-experiencing overwhelming unpleasant, painful feelings or memories, and prevent those in the now and future. If you decide to live more open-heartedly, you might want to get some professional support for healing this often-intense stuff from this life and past lives.

It might not be true that we should all live with totally open heart chakras. Perhaps the optimal is that there be no blocks to living with a heart chakra which is free to use its natural Divine Intelligence as to when and where it is more or less open or closed. Perhaps a heart can get "stuck" closed, or even "stuck" open; both situations would be not-optimally healthy and natural.

I've previously described my own views of what a healthy and unhealthy heart chakra looks like in a person's life; here is a summary:

Heart Fourth Chakra

Some indications of healthy heart chakra: Love, connection, caring, relating, belonging. The sense of loving life, the external world, and one's own body. Ability to embrace, to nurture, to protect. All the flavors of human love. Love as a state of Being, not just a human emotion: unconditional love.

Unhealthy heart chakra shows up in life like this: Playing the martyr, neediness, emotional unavailability, sense of isolation or disconnection, emotional shielding or numbness. Hating life, the world, one's body. Feeling unworthy. Protection against emotional pain, criticism.

However, it's really best not to have pre-conceived ideas of what your own healthier, more open, more activated heart-chakra functioning will look like or be experienced like. That would severely limit the possibilities for developing the unutterable beauty and majesty of your own unique heart's expression in the world.

Comments are invited, about your own questions, experiences, and suggestions!

by Rev. Alia Aurami, Ph.D., Head Minister, Amplifying Divine Light in All Church

"Amplifying Divine Light in All" is a completely independent church fostering empowerment of people to co-create loving, thriving God-realized lives, and wellbeing for everyone, on a clean, peaceful Earth.

Our main religious purpose and mission is to amplify the Divine Light in everyone. When you read this article, you will agree or disagree with its various points, and then you will know more about what is true for you. Knowing more of your own Truth amplifies your Divine Light. Thus providing/presenting this article is one way for us to accomplish our purpose and mission. 

This article and our providing/presenting it are therefore a central and essential part of our exercise and practice of our religion. 

None of the contents herein are claimed as absolute truth. They represent one possible perspective which might prove useful for you. All results from using anything written in this blog are solely your own responsibility, which you assume by reading.

All rights reserved under the Common Law. This means please respect our creatorship.

"Affairs are now soul size"

"Affairs are now soul size"

 

This so articulates that all of life is sacred, and why this is a sacred time in earth's history and humanity's history. 

Our church has some theological differences from the views expressed and implied, but nonetheless we find this spiritually uplifting, energizing, and inspiring, and offer it to you as that.

“A SLEEP OF PRISONERS”, from the play with that 

title, by Christopher Fry, 1951. I notice 

gratefulness.org offers this as a resource.

 

“The human heart can go to the lengths of God.

 
Dark and cold we may be, but this

 
Is no winter now. The frozen misery

 
Of centuries breaks, cracks, begins to move;

 
The thunder is the thunder of the floes.

 
The thaw, the flood, the upstart Spring.

Thank God our time is now when wrong

Comes up to face us everywhere,

Never to leave us ‘til we take

The longest stride of soul men ever took.

Affairs are now soul size.

The enterprise is exploration into God.

Where are you making for? It takes

So many thousand years to wake,

But will you wake for pity’s sake?”

Words for Life: List of Life-Enhancing Words

  

WORDS  FOR  LIFE

List of Positive Words I Find Life-enhancing --

Words for Unlimited Longevity into the 21st Century

We invite your comments and responses and especially, your additions!

This list is a tool I developed to help me live an unlimitedly long, healthy, and happy life in full realization of all that I Am spiritually and in every other way. We at our church offer it to be helpful to you, also.

Ways to Use This List

Sometimes I just pick a word and contemplate what it means for my life at that moment. This is the "angel card" use of this list: to get meaningful messages.

If I pick a word "randomly" with a question or issue in mind, sometimes the word creates a breakthrough of understanding or help for me. This is the "oracle" use of the list.

Sometimes I pick a word for the day to contemplate all day, to saturate my consciousness with and see what it would mean in my life every moment of the day.

Sometimes I start with one word and just brainstorm or free-associate other words that come to me in the moment that feel related. If I write this list, sometimes the whole list is a meaningful "message."

I use these words as I talk and write, and I refrain from using other words. This amazingly reduces worry, complaining, guilt, blame, and stress.

I think about a particular concept in this list, and what I want in my life and in my self with respect to it.

Just reading or browsing this list creates positive, life-enhancing biochemicals in the body!

Thinking about or contemplating or even meditating on any of the concepts increases the life-enhancing effect greatly.

Sometimes I focus on a word and really get into the experience of what the word refers to; I imagine pictures, sounds, feelings, tastes, smells, sensations, making the experience of the word "real" to me.

Sometimes I just write or think of as many words as I can at the moment. That always uplifts me.

Impossibility, Resistance,  No “Thought Police”

If, in contemplating a particular word, I feel an inner resistance to its reality, if I feel deep down that it represents an "impossibility" in my life, I fully acknowledge that, and especially focus my attention on that word, letting my attention and positive emotions about it gradually erode the "impossibility." This way I actually change my reality. Much more could be said about this; feel free to contact us and ask.

In most people’s reality, we become and experience only what we are fascinated by, whether our fascination takes the form of giving attention or withholding attention. We come into vibratory resonance with, and thereby manifest in our experience, what we fill our consciousness (including our subconscious mind) with, what we label as real, what we talk and think about, what we fret about or lament or get angry or indignant about or are grateful for, or awed by anything we invest with attention and emotion, whether that be the emotions of wanting it or the emotions of not wanting it.

As an alternative, in my reality is the fact that only my Spirit’s highest vision of Heaven on Earth is what manifests in my experience, independent of my words or my beliefs, because that vision is my only fascination. The words in this list are not to manipulate my beliefs, but to allow me to carry out my fascination with the vision and the reality they describe. This way I don't have to be thought-police or word-police to myself.

No Judgments Here

There are no moral judgments intended in these words. I just experience them as life-promoting.  I recognize that for some people, boundary-building might be a more life-promoting concept than boundless. I hope this list will stimulate readers to make their own list.

Choice of Words

These are mostly adjectives because I started this list for myself to describe the way I wanted to be and feel and the way I wanted to be experienced by others and by myself and the way I wanted my life to be.  Nouns would make the list too long, but some verbs and nouns have crept in. There is a nice mixture of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile words here to fill all of my senses and learning-modes. Words that don’t apply to people, like pastoral and bustling, I have minimized, even though for me they might represent life-enhancing experiences.

Some of the words are opposites, yet all are pro-life, depending on various factors or their context. Examples: moderate-temperate-extreme, childlike-youthful-mature, innocent-sophisticated, empty-full, form-disperse, elaborate-simple.

Positive Words Not Chosen

Certain “positive” concepts are not here because they presume something I do not believe is positive or life-promoting. For example, words like absolve, pardon, acquit, and exonerate presume guilt and blame. Words like protected, relieved, careful, safe, prudent, and forgiven actually reflect a fascination with what I don’t want in my life. Perhaps the biggest word in this category is trust. To me, trust implies a reality in which trust can be betrayed. What replaces trust in my benevolent universe is knowing.

Also I have to be careful about grateful. Grateful to me necessarily implies that I don't have the power but something or someone else does, something outside, separate. Words like rejoice, appreciate, and celebrate acknowledge my own role and empowerment as Creator. Of course, I acknowledge that some things in my life are co-created with others, and that some experiences appear to come from outside my own efforts, but I believe that ultimately I am One with the Source of All Things, and the more I acknowledge that Oneness, the more empowered I am. For me, the term grateful takes me away from that acknowledgment.

On the other hand I have included lots of “un” words like unhindered and unbounded, which also are based on negatives, but I myself have positive kinesthetic experiences from these words without reference to the opposite state (unlike safe which I can’t imagine without imagining danger.)

In an “Everything is just a choice and everything is chosen” reality certain so-called positive concepts have a different meaning or slant and I have generally not included them: just and fair are primary examples. Healed, rescued, and saved are also examples.  Yet I do want to live in a reality in which people are just and fair to one another, even though this becomes a matter for preference, not because of judgment. So future versions might have more of these concepts in them.

Also, I have realized that in a reality in which there is no rule, principle, or authority higher than the promptings of Spirit, God, or whatever one calls it, certain ideas/words that I used to think of as positive need to be taken with a huge grain of salt. Examples are committed, responsible, loyal, dedicated, consistent. When I am going with the flow of Spirit, I do not worry about being judged as irresponsible, disloyal, even unloving, for what I do. Releasing my self-judgments, I have found, results in experiences of others being OK with what I do.

If you think a particular word belongs in this list, please do let me know. I’d love to have the list be as long as possible! I am working my way through a dictionary and thesaurus, so this list will grow, and I will note new words.

For your suggested donation of a word for this blog entry, via making a comment, you will receive occasional free future versions of the paper when available, if you provide us with your name and email address via emailing us at divinelightchurch at gmail dot com.

A

abide, abiding

ablaze

able, ability

able-bodied

abloom

abounding

aboveboard

absolute, absolutely

absorb, absorbed, absorbing

abundance, abundant

accept, accepted, accepting

access, accessing, accessible

accomplish, accomplished/ing

accurate, accurately

achieve, achieved, achieving

acknowledge/d, acknowledging

activate,activated,activating

active, actively

actualize/d, actualizing

adapt, adapted, adaptable

add, added, adding

admired, admiring

admire, admirable

adored, adoring

affectionate

affirming, affirmed

ageless

agile

alert

aligned

alive, aliveness

allow, allowed, allowing

amazed, amazing

anticipating

appreciated, appreciating

approachable

approving

ardent

arrive, arriving,

ascending, ascended

assertive

assimilating

assist, assistance

assure, assured

astonishing

attentive

attracted, attracting

attractive

authentic

autonomous

available

awake

aware

awed

B

balanced

basic

beautiful

beginning

beneficial

benefit, benefited

benevolent

beneficent

bhava-samadhi-inducing

biocentric

blazing

blended, blending

bliss, blissful

blooming

blossoming

bold

boost, boosted, boosting

boundless

bounty, bountiful

brave

breathe, breathing, breath-full

bridging

brilliant

broad, broadening

bubbling

budding

building

C

calm, calming

caring

casual

catalyzed, catalyzing

celebrated, celebrating

celebratory

centered

certain

challenged, challenging

changeable

changing

charismatic

childlike

choosing

clarified, clarifying

cleansed, cleansing

clear

clever

colorful

comfortable

comforted, comforting

communicative, communicating

communing

companionable

compassionate

compatible,

competent

complete, completely

completed, completing

comprehended, comprehending

comradely

concentrated, concentrating

confident

confiding

connected, connecting

conscious

considering, considerate

constructive, constructing

contemplative, contemplating

content, contented

contentment

contributory, contributing

cool-headed

coordinated

count on

courage, courageous

cozy

creative

D

dancing

declaring

deep

definite

delectable

delicate

delicious

desirable, desired, desiring

detoxified, detoxifying

developed, developing

direct, directed, directing

discerning

dispensing

dispersing

distinguished

dramatic

dreaming

E

eager

easy

ebullient

ecstatic

effective

effervescent

efficient

effortless

elaborate

elated

elegant

elevated, elevating

elevating

empower, empowering,

empowered

empty

enable, enabling

enabled

encountered, encountering

encouraged

enduring (lasting)

energetic

energized, energizing

engrossed, engrossing

enhanced, enhancing

enjoyed, enjoying

enlightened, enlightening

enlivened, enlivening

enough

enriched, enriching

enrichment

entertained, entertaining

envision, envisioning

essence

essential, essentialized

eternal

ever-increasing

evocative

evolving, evolved

excited, exciting

exhilarated, exhilarating

expanded, expanding

expansive

experimenting

explorative

expressive

exquisite

extended. extending

extraordinary

extreme

exuberant

F

fabulous

facilitated, facilitative

faithful

fantastic

fed, feeding

feeling

fertile

fill, filled, filling

finished, finishing

fired up

fit

flexible

floating

flourish, flourishing

flowering, flowery

flowing

fluid

focused

forceful

formed, forming

forthright

foundational

free, freeing

frequent, rare

fresh

friendly

fruitful, fruition

fueled, fueling

fulfilled

full

fundamental

G

general, generalized

generative, generating

generous, generosity

gentle

genuine

gifted, gifting

giving, given

gleaming

gleeful

glittering

glow, glowing

God-realized

golden

Grace-full

graceful

gracious

grateful

gratified, gratifying

great

grounded, grounding

grow, growing

H

happy

harmonious, harmonized

harmonizing, harmonic

healed, healing

healthy

heard, hearing

heartfelt

hearty

help, helping, helpful

high, higher, highest

hilarity, hilarious

holistic

holy

home

honed, honing

honest

honored, honoring

hopeful

humble

humming

humorous

I

identical

imaginative

imbue, imbued

immortal

important

impressed, impressing

impressive

improving

in knowingness

incorporated, incorporating

increased, increasing

independent, interdependent

infinite

informal

ingenious

ingenuous

innocent

innovative

inquiring

insightful

inspired, inspiring

integrated, integrating

integritous, integrity

intelligent

intended, intending

intense

interactive

intimate

investigative

involved

J

joking

journey, journeying

jovial

joyful

jubilant

jumping

 K

kin, kindred, kinship

kind, kindly, kindness

knowing

knowledgeable

L

laughing

lavish, lavishing

learning

letting go

liberated, liberating

life, living

light

light-footed

light-hearted

listening

logical

long-lived

loving, loved, lovely

living

lasered

lasting

listening

loyal

M

magical

magnetic

magnetized, magnetizing

magnificent

maintained, maintaining

majestic

marveling, marvelous

master, masterful

mastered, mastering

mature

meaningful

melodious

memorable

merged, merging

miraculous

mirthful

moderate

momentum

modest (realistically)

moving, moving forward

mysterious

N

nature, natural

nice

nimble

new

nonattached

nonjudging

nourish, nourished

nourishing

nurtured

O

omnipresent

omniscient

ongoing

opalescent

open, opening

optimistic

opulent

organic

organized, organizing

oriented

original, originating

outrageous

outright

outstanding

overflowing

P

pampered

participating

path

passionate

peace, peaceful

peacefulness

perceptive

perfect

permanent

playful

pleasurable

plentiful

poised

positive

powerful

practical

precious

precise

prepared, preparing

present

pretty

priceless

primary

proficient

profound

progress

progressive, progressing

prosperous

proud

pure

purified, purifying

purpose, purposeful

Q

quick, quickly/slowly

quick-minded

quicken

quickfooted

quiescent

quiet, quieting

quotable

R

radiant, radiating

radical

rapturous

ready, readying

real

realistic

realized, realizing

reasonable, unreasonable

received, receiving

recognized, recognizing

recreated, recreating

refined, refining

refreshed, refreshing

regenerated, regenerating

rejuvenated, rejuvenating

relating

relaxed, relaxing

released, releasing

remembered, remembering

renewed, renewing

resonating

resourceful

respected, respecting

responsive, responding

rest, resting,

rested, restful

restorative

restored, restoring

revealed, revealing

revelatory

reverent, reverence

rhythmic, rhythm

rich

rocking

rosy

  

S

satisfied, satisfying

saturate, saturated, saturating

scintillate, scintillating

seed, seeded, seeding, seedling

seen, seeing

self-approving

self-aware

self-loving

self-validating/ed

sensible, senseless

sensitive, sensitizing

sensual, sensuous

sentimental

serene, serenity

share, shared, sharing

shimmer, shimmering

shine, shining

significant

silent

silly

silvery

simple, simplified

singing

skilled, skillful

sleek

smiling

smooth

snuggle, snuggling

soft, softening

sophisticated

sourcing

sparkling

special

spontaneous

sprouted, sprouting

stable

step, stepping

stepstone

stimulated, stimulating

stirred, stirring

strengthening, strengthened

striking

strong

stunning

sublime

subtle

successful

succinct

sufficient

summarized, summarizing

sunny

superb

supplied, supplying

supported, supporting

support, supportive

supreme

surrendered, surrendering

sustained, sustaining

sweet, sweetening

synchronized, synchronizing

synergistic, synergizing

systematic, systematizing

T

tactful

talented

temperate

terrific

thank/ful

thorough

thought-provoking

thoughtful

thrill/ed, thrilling

thrive, thriving

timeless

timely

toned, toning

touched, touching

transfigure, transfiguring,

transform, transformed

transforming, transformative

tranquil

transcendent

transcended, transcending

transmute/d, transmuting

transparent

traveling

treasure/d, treasuring

true, truth, truthful

U

ultimate

unadulterated

unbind, unbounded

unceasing

unconditional

unconstrained

unconstricted

undeniable, undenied

understand/ing, understood

unfettered

unfolding

unforgettable

unhindered

unify/ing, unified

uninhibited

unique, uniquely

unite, united, uniting

universal

unlimited

unqualified (unreserved)

unrestrained

unrestricted, unrestricting

unstressed

unusual

upfront

uplifted, uplifting

upright

use/ful, used

utilize/d, utilizing

V

Valentine

valiant

valid, validated, validating, validity

valor

valuable, valued, valuing

vanguard

variegated

vary, various, varied, variety

vast

velvety

venerable, venerate, veneration

ventilate, ventilation

venture

venturesome, venturous

viable

vibrant

visioning, visionary

vital, vitalizing, vitalize, vitality

vivacious

vivid

vivify, vivifying

W

wander, wandering

warm, warming

wealth, wealthy

wellbeing

whole, wholeness

WholeBeing

wholehearted

wholesome

wild

willed, willing

wisdom, wise/ly

wonderful, wondering

wondrous

worthwhile

worthy

X

xenophilic (love of novelty, newness, strangeness, differentness)

Y

young

youthful, youthening

yippee

yes

Z

zestful

zippy

zingy

zowie

version May 9, 2013 based on version May 6, 2007

by Rev. Alia Aurami, Ph.D., Head Minister, Amplifying Divine Light in All Church

"Amplifying Divine Light in All" is a completely independent church fostering empowerment of people to co-create loving, thriving God-realized lives, and wellbeing for everyone, on a clean, peaceful Earth.

Our main religious purpose and mission is to amplify the Divine Light in everyone. When you read this article, you will agree or disagree with its various points, and then you will know more about what is true for you. Knowing more of your own Truth amplifies your Divine Light. Thus providing/presenting this article is one way for us to accomplish our purpose and mission. 

This article and our providing/presenting it are therefore a central and essential part of our exercise and practice of our religion. 

None of the contents herein are claimed as absolute truth. They represent one possible perspective which might prove useful for you.

All rights reserved under the Common Law. This means please respect our creatorship.