HEART SHARE

SPIRITUAL ASPIRANT FOR OVER 30 YEARS

As a spiritual aspirant for over 30 years, and in my profession as a Ph.D. Psychologist, I have practiced numerous techniques and approaches for enhancing well being and spiritual growth…

… yet none of them can compare to the profound peace, joy, and love experienced from going into the depths of our heart.

I now realize that the path of the Heart is the most direct approach to our ultimate fulfillment. Many of us know that we are meant to follow our hearts, listen to our hearts and live from our hearts. About 4 years ago I thought I was grounded in my heart and I now realize that I had only scratched the surface of my heart. Even though I had become an established and successful meditator who could easily experience an extended space between my thoughts and the pause between my breaths, I was not truly heart centered nor was I experiencing the inner depths of my heart. The last three years of my life have been the most profound, since I realized and can experience the deep joy and love radiating from the core of my heart.

I am so grateful to know that opening our hearts completely, is a great gift that we offer ourselves, our families and our planet. From the depths of our heart we experience the direct loving connection to the True Source, the Source of Love and Light. As I let go, and allow my heart to love the True Source more and more, the joy and love continues to deepen beyond what I ever imagined. What is so amazing to me, is that my efforts, skills, or ability to focus, has nothing to do with enhancing the process and are actually obstacles that block one from going into their heart. It is simply my willingness to feel what is already their, and to allow the love to bring me deeper into the love. This sacred process is available to all of us who are willing to let love work the way love truly is. I trust that if you listen to your heart call, you will feel that Love is calling you home to the core of your heart, your true self. I am grateful to share the journey of life with so many hearts that are feeling the inner calling to be instruments of light and love, the way the Source of Light and Love wants us to be.

- Ed Rubenstein

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LOVING TRUE SOURCE MORE

“Learning to open my Heart has changed my life completely. There are no words that will adequately describe the Love and Joy that I have experienced since the opening of my Heart.

It has been truly miraculous. I recommend this for everyone. I now know that Loving True Source more is what life is really all about.”

Jack Bracewell

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Sometimes you feel like you have been searching your whole life for something, and you don’t even know it until you find it. That is the way it was for me when I met my own heart.

I knew that I was longing for a feeling of Home and a connection with the Creator through which I could just be me and be loved and love in return, no matter what. I had a sense that this was what our adventure on earth was all about. I already knew that what I longed for wasn’t in being successful, having a loving relationship, being attractive, having children or a beautiful house. As nice as these all are they require a lot of feeding, and the results are often uncertain.

I meditated for 32 years, and taught meditation to others. I listened to and spoke inspiring words. I met people who seemed to have what I was looking for, but found they were not able to pass it onto me. I tried to give up and settle for less, but I got depressed and felt even more empty and lost than before. After traveling through the lessons of two marriages, stepparenthood,and a career as a psychologist, a friend of mine told me what he had learned through a gifted teacher. That the key to our connection Home is the heart, not the physical muscle that pumps our blood, but the non physical heart that we talk about when we say “follow your heart” or “a pure heart”.

It is the heart that you pick up and dial and then listen to in order to connect back again to the feelings of love, calmness, and joy. I had been trying for years to get to those feelings through a peaceful mind,which hadn’t worked very well. I thought if your mind was quiet enough then what was underneath the mental chatter would be love and joy. What I found was that a lot of calm mind could get pretty boring, and that it was hard work keeping it calm even some of the time when living a normal life. That is why most people seeking to quiet the mind usually had to go to a retreat place to find it. At times, I had tried to use my head to connect with my heart by focusing on being loving or visualizing being loved. What I hadn’t realized was that I had to go directly to the heart, not through any other part of me, in order to be able to feel what is within it, Divine Love and Light.

It has been three years since I first began experiencing and enjoying the feelings from my heart, feelings gentle, beautiful, sweet and powerful at the same time, beyond anything I could have imagined. All my good feelings had always been coming from there, I had just not known how to access them. More wonderful still,I now experience that the heart is the key to our connection with our Creator, the Divine Source, which is why the wonderful feelings are there, not in our heads. Being in our hearts leads to a life lived in love, which leads us closer and closer to our true Home and destiny as human beings, to our Creator.

How wonderful it is for me to be able to say that this is no longer a far off dream or something written about in a holy book, but something that is available now.

- Dianna Stone, Ph.D

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I NEVER IMAGINED……

“I never imagined that the spiritual path could be so easy and so much fun. I am having more joy than ever and I am growing spiritually faster than ever. I have been doing spiritual practices diligently for 35 years.
But until I took my first Open Heart workshop, my spiritual path was like swimming upstream against a raging current. Now my spiritual path is like being carried downstream, letting the love of my heart gently carry me home.
My first profound spiritual experience came in 1970. So, I have long known that the spark of the divine is within me. But I didn’t know how to easily and consistently access that spark. All the pathways I had been taking involved going through my mind. Unfortunately my mind is full of pitfalls, and those 35 years have felt like climbing a steep mountain on an uncertain path. Allowing my heart to take me to the divine spark within is like relaxing on deck of a boat on a warm, sunny day while the boat carries me to my destination.
I feel as if I have found what I have been searching for my entire adult life. I am so grateful. I am letting go of the struggles of my mind and enjoying the sweet love of my heart. I still stumble and fall on my path at times, but now my heart is always ready and able to pick me up and guide me ever deeper into the love that is my birthright as a human being.”
- Bob Kaplan
(taken from : www.heartsanctuary.org)

HEART, center of Joy

What and Where is Our Heart?

Our heart is our center of ‘feeling’. By contrast, our head is the center of thinking and the center of ego. A happy fulfilled life is lived immersed in Love, joy, and gratitude. These are feeling, not thoughts, so this is why knowing your heart is crucial. By learning to follow our heart we learn to utilize our heart intelligence which guides us to make loving wise choices, thereby supporting us to be successful on all levels of life. The heart we are referring to here is not our physical heart. It is our non-physical heart that resides in the center of our chest, at the level of our armpits.

When we first learn to become centered in the heart, we usually need to help our heart become more active. So, it is very helpful to touch the heart at the exact point at the center of the chest at the level of the armpits using one or several fingers without applying pressure. Touching it will make your heart become more active. At the core of our heart is our True Self, the spark of Light and Love. It is our true identity and who we really are at the deepest level of being, beyond all boundaries of space and time. This spark is the purest aspect of our deepest self and is directly connected to the Ultimate Source of Light and Love, The True Source.

(Note: We prefer the term ‘True Source’ because it is a neutral term which does not have a charged history. Feel free to replace the term True Source, with whatever phrase for you represents the Ultimate Source of Love and Light).

Our heart, is therefore, the:

• Key to our connection to True Source
• Center of peace
• Center of calmness
• Center of true happiness/joy
• Center of love
• Key to our physical, mental and emotional health
• Key to our spiritual growth
• The center for heart intelligence

Why Heart?

• Our heart is special because it is at the core of our heart that we have the direct connection with the Ultimate Source.
• Our heart is, therefore, the door to our True Home, and our ultimate destination. This is why it is so important for our hearts to realize and remember that the True Source is the Source of Love and Light, and the Source of our existence.
• Our heart is the center for receiving the blessings of Love and Light from this Source.
• Our heart is the center of feeling the peace, calmness, love, gratitude and joy because the blessings of Love and Light are radiating every moment of every day.
• Our heart is calling us, and inviting us to relax, smile, and enjoy all of the gifts that Love and Light offers. Moreover, our heart wants to be free to be an instrument of this Light and Love.

Why Follow Our Heart?

When our hearts become dominant we begin to utilize our heart intelligence, which is the innate loving wisdom of our heart. This is our deepest level of intelligence that supersedes intellectual or emotional intelligence. Heart intelligence guides us to make choices which allow us to fulfill our deeper purpose and to learn life lessons that we may have been failing to integrate. While it takes our needs into consideration, it is not self-centered, for it accesses the bigger picture that is often beyond the perceptions of the brain and guides us to make loving wise choices. Heart intelligence helps us to have greater clarity about situations. It gives new insights, perspectives and attitudes about efficiently managing whatever challenges that come up in daily life.

While our heads/brains often just react to situations, our hearts respond in a way that can turn stressors or obstacles into learning opportunities. However, becoming heart centered does not mean that we stop using the brain. We still need to utilize the brain to help us function in the world - instead, it comes under the influence and guidance of the wisdom of our heart:

Typically, though, we allow the brain to dominate. This results in our actions, behavior and responses being influenced by our mind/brain and ego:

When this happens the heart closes, and life is experienced more superficially. When the brain is dominant, one of its tendencies is to judge people or size them up into categories that often fall into ‘good enough’ or ‘not good enough’, ‘like’ or ‘dislike’, ‘approve’ or ‘disapprove’, ‘worthy’ or ‘unworthy’, or other dualistic concepts. As a result, relationships lack substance, quality and authenticity.When our hearts are open, we are not bothered by idiosyncrasies or differences in people. Relationships bring great joy, we are more accepting of others short comings, we easily forgive, and sharing love becomes our treasure. Open hearts live authentically and genuinely with love, humbleness and gratitude. And the more that we are able to open our hearts, the more we are able to experience peace, joy and connection with The Source of All.

(source : www.heartsanctuary.org)