In yesterday’s post, I shared how drawings have become, at least for the time being, my way of journaling. In this sort of journaling, we invite an image to present itself to us. My way is to sit in front of a blank piece of drawing paper, and with colored pencils and without thinking, analyzing or planning, I draw what comes forward. Then, I ask it to tell me, in words, what its message is.
This all began with a series of events several weeks ago. I had participated in three different experiences in which I was invited to allow an image to make itself known to me. Each in their own way suggested what became this drawing. This drawing, then, became my journaling by drawing.
This drawing is about the heart, but in more than one way. At the core (a word that means heart) of our bodies is this vital, life-sustaining organ called the heart. If we become still enough, we can hear or feel (or both) our hearts beating. Doing that, all by itself, is such a powerful, calming and centering practice. We know that the heart (as well as the gut) contain neurons, the cells that make up the brain, and so, in some sense, we have three brains at work in us all the time. The heart communicates with the brain through electricity and chemicals. The heart also generates a magnetic field that can be measured in the space of several inches to several feet all around the outside of our bodies. Human beings have developed all kinds of language for how we perceive each other’s heart, heart energy and heart space as we interact with one another.
In my heart space, I can hold a hurt or sadness. I can also open in to a gratitude, a delight, a joy. I can harbor anger in my heart, but I can also cultivate awe, compassion and courage there. The predominate feeling I cultivate in heart space communicates to others as our heart spaces touch each other.
So, what are we cultivating in your heart space today? And, when we pass by someone whose heart is hurting or heavy, can we expand some of the delight, joy, love and compassion within us to help them on their journey?
~Bob Patrick
