Just Keep on Walking

A Buddhist priest prays for the souls not yet found in the rubble, Yamada, Japan. (Source)

The human heart. I'm fascinated by it. What it can endure. The strength it carries. The love it can hold. The hurt it can take. It's amazing. Recently I've been struck by the soul centering force of the heart. Heart acknowledging heart.

I recently watched the movie The Way Back, based on the true story of men who escaped a Siberian prison traveling on foot to the only route to freedom, south. They walked all the way to India! Imagine. Crossing the Gobi dessert, even trekking their way through the daunting Himalayan mountains. Though the movie had all the dramatic flair of a Hollywood film I couldn't help being drawn by the energy and determination the human spirit can endure. We see this in countless examples, this only being one. This perseverance is what makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. What is that exactly?

Often it takes being brought down to our knees by external circumstances to dive into this essence. I guess you can say the force becomes stronger than our own fears and doubts. We wake up to what is real and self sustaining. Our defense mechanisms and blocks become useless in the face of enduring or simply striving to move forward and live. Or maybe we become inspired and/or awakened by a chance encounter. The possibilities are endless. The commonality we share is our one beating heart.

The stability of focus seems to be one attribute in persevering. Steadfast. I have had my challenges in this life; however, I can't say it has been to the extreme of many stories told. In a way I practice perseverance in getting up daily to practice. It has slowly taught me the energy to simply carry on. Opening up to the lessons the practice reveals, and leaning into it, head on. A training ground of sorts. Hopefully, not missing one single step in the act of self-realization.

We enter a time where the center of our being is essential to collectively reaching higher states of consciousness for all humanity. I must connect here first. Boundaries diminish when we reside in the heart. Pulling the energy down from the head into the heart center inspires the practice to come from a place of devotion. More than just physical. This sacred time has taught more about grace than I could have imagined. It doesn't become work. I am unfolding into reality. This breath. This moment. Compelled to expand into this space I desire to become intimate with it. I try, at least. In the act of making an effort I have the opportunity to observe where I need to grow. Where the fears are. What blocks I carry. Just keep walking. Or what I tell myself, just keep showing up.

The heart. A force so strong, so powerful, it burns and it yearns. I can see often why I would rather close than open. To expose this part of myself I must lie awake in every moment. To feel everything. To feel it all. From the highest of highs, to the lowest of lows. This is where the juice is, and sometimes it seems easier to simply numb. When I open to the pulse of life, I can flow with the rhythm of the earth itself, and the act of surrender seems to happen on it's own accord. Not always an easy task, but one that is essential to understanding what it means to lead from the heart.

At some point in our practices the heart becomes apparent. To do it for a long sustained period we have to soften or we break. Or maybe we are drawn there in time. We open to our true nature and allow that to breathe life into our bodies as we practice no matter what we are presented with in day to day life. To continue on is the theme. Connecting to the undying part of ourselves in the mist of change, tragedy and triumph.