HEALING WITH THE HEART CHAKRA
A common theme I see with my clients is conditional love towards self.
Does your inner dialogue sound like this?
“I will love myself when I have the perfect body / relationship / job.”
“I will love myself when I achieve this goal or level of success.”
“I will love myself when I make the money I want, have the ideal relationship, or am the perfect parent.”
This is conditional love towards self; and you are not alone.
Based on what we were taught by society, our primary care givers, and educational / religious institutions we may carry the belief that love is a byproduct of what we DO in the world. As children, we are often rewarded by love for good behavior, a game well-played, or a good grade. Hugs, high-fives, and affirmations are given for our acts. We are told that love acquired through acts of service and kindness to others.
While much of this is good and well-meaning, it can also inform the false pretense that love may only be gained through acts of doing and/or accumulated from others.
The truth is, we are worthy because we exist.
We are lovable and loving.
The essence of our existence is Love.
The truth is, we can love ourselves now.
Healing with the heart chakra is as simple and profound as loving ourselves unconditionally. By continually forgiving ourselves, practicing total self-compassion and self-acceptance, the greater the Love we may know. This love is not behest to circumstance. It is unflappable. It is the loving Mother / Father there to catch us when we fall, breathing words of belief into our core, and cheering us on as we return to our feet. Wherever you are on the journey, it is available to you at all times and all places.
The greater our ability to cultivate our own self love, the greater our ability to forgive, accept, and love others.
A RETURN TO LOVE
When healing the heart chakra, one piece of guidance I tend to offer is to re-imagineer our source of love. Our ability to love ourselves is often related to our relationship with Mother / Father / God (Source, Creation, Allah, the All and All). (For simplicity’s sake, I will refer to this as Mother / Father / God.)
When I say re-imagineer, I am asking a client to access the most loving potential of Mother (yin), Father (yang), and God (all and all) energy fathomable. For some of us, this may have been difficult depending on the experiences in our youth. So using our imaginative faculties, we can build a new, greater version of these all-loving energies:
Mother: perhaps you can use your own mother, or aspects of your mother that felt loving, nurturing, and kind. You can add in other Mother-type examples, maybe an aunt, grandmother, or mentor. Perhaps you can call on Kuan Yin, Mother Earth, or Mother Mary to experience the unwavering support of archetypal All Mother, yin energy.
Father: again, perhaps your own father, or aspects of him can paint the All Father, yang energy - our great Protector. You can add in other examples such as uncles, grandfathers, or perhaps a teacher. You can call on Archangel Michael, Father Sky, or Jesus to experience the total solidity of the archetypal All Father, yang energy.
Can you feel that? It’s powerful.
This becomes the new channel through which we can have our inner dialogue.
If we could hear through the perspective of Mother / Father / God what would it sound like?
If we could see ourselves through the eyes of Mother / Father / God what would we look like?
If we could know for ourselves what Mother / Father / God knows for us, what new awareness might we arrive at?
This is a wonderful process to move through in times of difficulty. I might also recommend using this methodology as often as possible, in any and all of life’s circumstances, without condition.
The beauty of this exercise is that while it may feel foreign at first, overtime we begin to form the habit of speaking, viewing, and knowing a higher frequency of love. Eventually, we fully integrate an ability to speak love, see love, and know love.
And what we extend to ourselves, we more freely give unto others: forgiveness, acceptance, and compassion. By knowing the good in ourselves, we come to know the good in others.
