Fearlessness is Born of an Open Heart

Fearlessness is born of an open heart. When your heart is open, you are not afraid of anything. I’m not talking about lions and tigers and bears; I’m talking about the things in life that you meet everyday. It’s the stuff inside ourselves that we are thinking about during the day. It could be something from home, something at work, or just about anything, but when you get afraid, it is the same thing as going on shutdown.

How do you open your heart? You open your heart by doing something as simple as breathing consciously. When you do this, become conscious of your posture so that the spine is straight, the spiritual channel is open, the crown is open, and therefore there is openness in the body and in the chest. Breathe into your heart, and, if you need to, put your hand on your heart while you are breathing. If you are afraid, it is because somewhere your heart has  shut down, been ordered off, hardened, or compartmentalized; you know you are afraid because you feel tight and edgy. So breathe into the heart to soften and return to courage and fearlessness. 

How is the heart made hard? The heart is made hard as a result of the armor you wear, which in turn is a result of the thoughts you think and the programs you hold. Energy follows thought form. Thoughts happen first, a separation is made on the mental plane, and then the heart hardens and closes down. Any one single thought that is limiting will have a closing effect on your heart. Any of the thought forms—there’s not enough for me—or any form of separation, complaint, or judgment hardens the heart. Walking on a spiritual path requires fearlessness. You cannot walk on a spiritual path and be afraid because then you become like the hungry ghosts that are perpetually fearful, eating and drinking constantly but never getting enough. On the spiritual path, you have to strive to open and to follow your commitment to your own heart in order to be fearless. 

Fearlessness cultivates an enlightened state. When you are afraid, let go of your fear. Transformation happens in the letting go. Whatever your fears are, they are not real. Your fears are just your defense mechanism reacting to something in the outer world or to something in your unconscious inner world. Unfortunately, most of our fears are generated in our unconscious awareness. But we do not have to go into a deep psychological process to analyze the fear; just recognize it and realize, “I’m afraid, I’m feeling fear.” In that fear will be some barrier, some border, some edginess, some hardness, some judgment, whereby you are cutting yourself off and separating yourself from your own heart and from your own light.

When you recognize that fear, go within. That is where the inner work takes place. The practice happens within. I’m feeling afraid, I’m feeling tight, I’m feeling edgy—so breathe, get your posture open, do a standing yoga mudra where the arms are just back and clasped together and lifted up so that the heart has to burst open. Then soften with your consciousness. If you are soft as you breathe, and if you soften your shoulders, legs, and belly, then prana comes and helps you to open and move and heal.

Go to your physical place of meditation. Perhaps you have an altar. Bring your open heart there. When you sit down, elongate your spine, press your crown up, and open your heart. Make sure your altar is clear and clean. Many of you have been practicing for a long time, and anything that has any duration, starts to get stuck and old. Anything. Even your spiritual practice can get stuck and old unless you infuse it and keep it alive and dusted off and clean. Do not get too rote and lazy in your approach to your own consciousness because in the long run, people get tracked, and only you can keep yourself out of the track. Only you can keep yourself enlivened, light-filled, and on the path. Keep your altar beautiful, your practice beautiful, and the energies clear so that the light can come in. Have you ever seen layers of dust in sunlight? The light does not get through the dust; the debris blocks it. So we clean and scrub away the dust; we shine and buff our practice so the light can illuminate and penetrate everything.

I have been reflecting on crucifixion, and I think it’s all about what happens in those little, split seconds that you talk about. I’m getting better at it, but those old patterns are really strong.

Do not worry about how strong the pattern is. Flip it over in your consciousness so that your spiritual warriorship is stronger. Your commitment to yourself to be beautiful is stronger than the need to be edgy, sarcastic, reactive, or fighting. You do not have to worry about what you are afraid of, or that you are afraid; just keep your heart open. An open heart takes care of it naturally and automatically. You see, we do not have to go up into our heads and analyze the reasons for our fear. You are afraid, so breathe into the heart, put your hand on your heart, and soften with your intention. It is very, very simple. 


Maresha's next blog will be published March 31, 2015.

Messages of Light is published by the Sanctuary of Universal Light on Snow Dragon Mountain in Meredith, New Hampshire. A snail mail edition is available bi-monthly, free of charge. www.snowdragonsanctuary.com