Inspired by deepening spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, we’ve been exploring what it means to make the heart bloom. In my last post, we talked about what motivates us to move out of survival into creation … how we prepare the soil and plant the seed of possibility. If you missed Part I, you can read it here.

Now, having answered the call to evolve our soul’s experience by planting that seed, we move into a new stage. We tend the seed and help it grow.

 

Attention, Energy, and Emotions

As discussed in Part I, when our energy is concentrated in our first three energy centers, our heart can often be guarded or closed. Since the first three energy centers are related to our animal selves (procreation; safety, security, food, and shelter; action and reaction), living in the states of consciousness associated with those centers – feeling and fueling the emotions of survival – doesn’t leave much energy for our precious hearts.

And so, we begin tending the seed by focusing on our heart – because where we place our attention is where we place our energy. The more we move out of survival, the more we expand the energy indigenous to the heart. Essentially, we’re taking the time to give it our energy. And, as we become more conscious of the heart – more present with it – the more it begins to respond.

There are so many hidden treasures in the heart we don’t yet know about – because it’s hard to measure the benefits and effects of open-heartedness. So far, in this work, the closest we’ve come is measuring all the wonderful biological effects of heart coherence – from strengthening immune function … to genetic changes … to more balanced, creative energy in the brain.

With that in mind, once we’ve ascended our energy into the heart, we have to work on creating and sustaining heart coherence.

Giving our heart our loving attention is the first step. The second step is to nurture it with elevated emotions. We’re used to experiencing emotions with every other part of our body, but most of us need to practice feeling them with our hearts – because the heart has a different consciousness we must learn to activate.

As our heart moves out of its protective mechanism of survival, it naturally starts to relax and open. Physiologically, things begin to happen. “Feel-good” hormones like oxytocin activate signaling pathways that enable blood to flow into the heart. That engorgement causes a profound feeling that amplifies the energy in the heart even more.

When the heart is under the assault of constant stress, it becomes incoherent – and its energy levels go down. That’s because incoherent energy waves cancel each other out through interference. But when maintained coherent waves of energy interact, they create bigger waves. The higher the wave; the higher the amplitude; the higher the energy. It stands to reason, then – the more energy in the heart, the more love we feel. This is how we not only create, but sustain, heart coherence.

In our first three energy centers, we felt the emotions of survival. Now, we feel expansive emotions that open our heart. We feel joy. We feel kindness and compassion. We feel inspiration … compassion … gratitude. We feel pure love. We feel whole. We elevate ourselves out of the limited, pre-programmed conditions of our purely animal selves. We connect with our divinity.

 

Cultivating Patience and Creativity

We often think opening the heart is really difficult; something we can achieve only through complicated and elaborate techniques. This may be because we confuse something that happens slowly with something that’s not working.

But let’s go back to the image of the seed we talked about in Part I – the seed we planted by asking soul questions. It takes time for that seed to gather enough resources to develop and grow.

Eventually, the seed germinates … sprouts … and forms a stalk. Leaves grow. And, as the plant matures, it develops a bud – our metaphor for the heart. That bud has to open, petal by petal. And nature takes time. It takes just the right balance of elements, conditions, and care for the flower – the heart – to bloom.

It takes a lot of practice and patience to learn how to center and activate our heart. A budding flower needs the life force coming from the earth and its environment. The heart is the same way. It needs the life force generated by our attention, our energy, and our elevated emotions.

Once the heart is in a state of sustained coherence, our data shows it naturally elevates energy to the brain, instructing it to get creative by moving into beautiful, coherent, alpha brain waves. With sustained heart coherence, we emanate the magnetic field we use to draw experiences to us. Now, we’ve liberated energy and moved out of survival – into creation.

 

A Heart in Full Bloom

With a heart in full bloom, we no longer operate from the feeling of not having what we want. We close the distance between the thought of a desired experience and the experience itself. We create from wholeness instead of from lack. We no longer need anything outside ourselves to feel fulfilled.

Opening the heart is a process we work with – and we can’t rush or force it. We can’t strive or push. These states feed the emotions of survival. If we want to cultivate emotions that fuel creativity, we can do so only when we’re relaxed in the heart and awake in the brain.

Wherever you are on this path, it’s important to remember: Everyone has a moment when the heart blooms. It just happens in its own time. If you feel frustrated with where you are in your own growth process, remember – frustration is not an emotion that opens the heart. If you spend the majority of your day immersed in feelings other than heart-centered emotions, you’re not nurturing the energy – the life force – that causes it to bloom. It’s the difference between the chill of winter … and the nurturing warmth of spring.

So, make time for your heart. Give it your energy. Give it your attention. Nurture it. Be kind to it. Care for it. Listen to it. Be present with it. Relax into it. Stay connected to it. Be patient with it. And fall in love with it.

There’s no limit to the amount of growth and opening you can experience. There are countless petals – countless layers of emotion you can feel. When you get to that state of sustained heart coherence, and your heart finally blooms, it’s not the end of the process. It’s just the beginning. You can always open up more. You can always create more. You can always love more.