This month, is all about opening ourselves up to the spiritual practice of openness. I would like to say that I am an open person, but the more I have been reflecting on openness, the more I have come to realize that every moment of my life I am either opening or closing something. Every moment that I am waiting on something to happen, I am closing myself off to what is happening in that moment. When I am giving what I most desire to give, when I am living from the depth of my being, then I am opening myself up the entire moment. I cannot be open to receiving what I am desiring when I am closed to it’s arrival. Nothing in life can be open and closed at the same time.
There was a song I used to listen to in the 70’s by Meg Christian. She would talk about how we so often spend time waiting for X to happen thinking that was going to make us ok. When we are waiting for X to happen for us to be happy, we have actually closed ourselves up to the happiness we could be experiencing in this very moment. How often do we forget that every moment is the most important moment in our lives? Are we spending that moment open and loving or closed and hanging a sign that says not accepting deliveries? Love and joy cannot be brought into our lives when we are not open to experiencing them.
Everything I do hangs an open or closed sign on me and the energy I vibrate into the world. My open sign or my closed sign has a ripple effect and touches the lives of all around me. How I sit, stand, breathe or move in the world radiates energy in to the world. I am either radiating love or not. The way I look at someone or something radiates positive or negative energy. My words carry with them positive or negative energy. Everything I think, speak, or do has the potential to open or close hearts and minds. When I consider this, it requires me to also practice being mindful and to live in this moment.
Right now what are you doing? Are you choosing to open and give fully or are you holding back and waiting for something? Are you opening your heart to all or are you opening it to some and closing it to others? How does it feel when your heart is open and when it is closed?
So how do you know when your heart is fully open. When every moment of your life you are in a state of bliss. When you are not, you know you can open wider or go deeper. Opening means you also work on healing the wounds that might be limiting the wideness of your opening. Your heart knows the honesty of your openness and can feel the suffering and negativity of the areas that are closed.
How do we know when we are closed? Dissatisfaction is one clue we are closed to some degree. Dissatisfaction is a sign we are resisting the openness of the moment. As a friend said, it is like refusing to open the door when you see all the people who want to come in and bless you or your business. When we shut ourselves down, we are effectively hanging a sign that says “We are not open to emotions, people or situations. Please keep your love and positive energy away from me.”
As we practice being open, we practice just being in the moment. We practice opening ourselves to feeling what we are feeling right now and when needed opening ourselves deeper or wider to allow the love in and the negative energy to flow out. Open yourself to breathing in peace and breathing out that which is keeping you stifled. Open yourself to feel your body and how you are sitting, standing, and/or moving. Open to the moment and allow the moment to open unto you.