The Kingdom of the Heart

Many people hide behind a pseudo-heart-centered spirituality, proclaiming to live in the ‘Kingdom of the Heart’. They preach all about compassion, love, and peace. Living inside a Disney-like fantasy world where all is magic and there are no negative feelings like shame, anger, or regret, they avoid confrontation at all costs.

They OM, they chant, they go to healing circles, they sit in the front row of their meditation class. They go to yoga, reiki, they sing their hearts out at choir, and they try every new spiritual diet or fad. They look at you and even tell you, “see how heart-centered, loving and spiritual I am!”

They send you their love, they send you their compassion, they even tell you that you’re loved. Some brave ones even proclaim to love you. They pride themselves as superior, more evolved because they are following their heart, or because they are speaking from their hearts.

I used to be one of these people. To a certain extent, I still am. The bigger difference these days is that I’m part of a community of friends and clients whose favorite way to love me is by pointing to me those blind spots, and areas of my life where I’m not in integrity with myself, or acting in inauthentically.

Even though deep in my heart I crave the very basics of human connection, I sometimes avoid it at all cost by hiding in the safety of my rational mind; often failing to understand the very basic principles of heart-centered living my friend Tej Steiner refers to as The Five Ways of Being:

Being clear. What is your life purpose? How does what you do in everyday life support it?

Being present. Can you stop your constant thinking and come into the stillness of your heart?

Being real. Are you aware of what you’re feeling right now?

Being connected. Are you experiencing love and connection right now?

Being heart-directed. Are you following what you truly want, or what you’re conditioned to want?

Living in the Kingdom of the Heart is not for everybody. It takes balls, courage, and determination. It takes saying what you’re most afraid of saying, facing what you’re most afraid of facing, and being who you’re most scared to be.

It takes leaving the comfortable and predictable future others have planned for you and entering into a sea of uncertainty, vulnerability, and chaos that will eventually lead you to the life, relationships, and experiences that are waiting for you. The ‘Heaven’ you seek, as Nietzsche reminds us, is a condition of the heart.

Living in the Kingdom of your Heart requires that you walk two paths simultaneously. One that you walk by yourself guided by your Inner Source of Love, Wisdom, and Power. The other one, you walk it with other pilgrims who, like you, have chosen to walk the path of their Highest Purpose and human potential.

We’re not meant to walk the Path of the Heart on our own. We need each other and more importantly, we have each other.

Thanks for choosing to walk with me.

From my heart to yours.