Living with two bulging, herniated discs can be a pain (no pun intended), especially in our rainy season, when my back seems extra sore. During a family barbecue, my sister, a RN, asked if I was experiencing pain. When I asked why she inquired, she said that I looked like I was guarding. This is a medical term indicating when a person has pain somewhere in their body they become rigid as though to protect the area from further pain or injury. We do the same in our lives with our minds and hearts. We protect ourselves from perceived pain, we guard. What other ways can we practice being open?
To be open, for many of us, means to be vulnerable. We’ve been open and been hurt; at least that explains some of the our experiences. Ego loves it when we stay closed and works over-time to ensure we do not enter openness. “Remember when you did that before and…” is one of the many voices of ego.
When we are open, the gates of Divine guidance, to intention, to the flow of Holy Spirit happen. Closing the gates of our minds and hearts is insanity. Why do the barriers to openness show up, guarding our sacred spaces? Ego, again is the answer. Blocks to openness manifest in the forms of negative voices cemented in our dialogue and culture. Evidence of this insanity in our workplaces includes statements like, Nice guys finish last, or when considering doing something nice for someone (a favor), If you do that for one, you’ll have to do it for everyone, or No good deed goes unpunished.
Opening our perceptions and inviting in the Holy Spirit through surrender, allows healing of the mind and heart to take place. Through healing, the ego no longer has hold on the barriers and blocks to the gates of openness. Just as a clenched fist cannot receive a gift, a closed mind cannot grow and a closed heart cannot receive love.
Steps to openness:
With an open heart,
Maria
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