To live with an open heart,
inevitably means to risk a broken heart.
It comes with the territory of being alive.
And please allow me to clarify,
that there is a difference,
between merely existing,
and being truly ALIVE.
To merely exist, is to be a passive observer,
a tacit complier, to a culture built on fear, control,
and the false belief that it is not safe to trust.
To merely exist, is to allow our hearts
to become calcified, jaded, and numbed
as a natural by-product of undesirable
yet seemingly unchangeable circumstances.
To merely exist, is to allow our soul
to go into hiding, to calculate the opening
of our heart like a chess move--
only risking making ourselves vulnerable
if we can guarantee the upper hand.
This is not living, this is purgatory.
It is a life worse than death,
because at least in death we are free.
To be truly alive, on the other hand,
means to opt into this body,
this heart, this moment,
this life, right now.
To be truly alive, means to lead with the raw,
messy, inconvenient, infinitely endearing truth--
that lays us out naked and vulnerable
for the Universe to have its way with.
To be truly alive, means to be so indelibly
connected to our heart, our value, our soul,
that we know nothing can be taken from us
that is not freely given.
We are safe, you see, we are infinitely safe,
beyond anything that your mind,
your ego, or your insecurity
could begin to fathom.
Your heart, my darling, is an infinite resource,
and to hide your heart from the world,
to make it a scarce commodity,
is to deprive the world of something
it is in dire need of.
Love. The world needs your Love.
It needs your love unadulterated, unfiltered,
unencumbered by fears of being "too much",
"not enough", or "unworthy of being received".
The world needs your heart open, and yes,
to open your heart does mean that you
exponentially increase its risk
of being broken.
But let me tell you my dear,
a broken heart,
is not what you think.
It is a gift, you see.
Because in the breaking of your heart, you shatter
the calcified walls of fear and retraction.
You break apart the avoidance of feeling,
of breathing, of claiming your aliveness.
In the breaking of your heart,
you open yourself to a love
beyond what you can possibly imagine.
A love of this life that goes beyond anything
our human mind could comprehend.
This is a love that connects us to all things.
This love shatters fear,
it shatters story,
it shatters illusion.
This love, is simply truth.
And it lives within you.
And it is waiting for you.
Waiting for you to remember that your love
does not need permission or validation
to be expressed.
It gets to exist right now,
without expectation
or agenda.
Your love just gets to be here.
And oh my dear, can you imagine,
if we had a world full of hearts,
courageous enough to be open,
and willing to be broken?
Can you imagine what a world, that would be?
With Love,
Arielle Brown
Photo Credit: Lionsgate Portal Art print by Lori Menna