“Closed Heart?” Blog #115
Why have I set my mind against my “Higher Self”?
Does living today make me feel good about “ME”?
What is at the “heart” of everything I do?
Is my heart Closed today? If so, I need a “change of Heart”.
It’s amazing how time slips away even when I have nothing planned. For whatever reason,
I still justify, rationalize, negotiate with myself, and don’t like to admit it, but I have judged
people all my life. I look at them under a microscope of anger, confusion and a closed
heart. At the end of the day I say to myself, “I don’t see those people because they did this
and they did that but THEY hurt me!” Why then, should I change my mind?
Lately, I have decided to play it all through. I take one person whom I have judged
constantly and imagine they are no longer here. Now I go on and do this with ALL the
people that have brought me the most pain. There is one part of this that is hard to
digest. It is the part where I must admit at the end of the day, I feel this description about
these people “applies only to me”.
Every one else has a different description of the people I have problems with. WHY IS
THAT? WHERE IS TRUTH IN ALL THIS? ALAS, it is relative and I have to admit, I am stuck with
the old, confused, judgmental ME. I have put into place my own feeling for people that is
not necessarily truth, but “my truth in how I see them”. Someone else will see them
differently and on and on. Do I feel let down? Of course I do! When I judge another, it
keeps my heart closed. It defeats the purpose of people coming into my life who I need to
be learning my lessons from. For we are ALL teachers of each other in some form. It is
hard to understand this TRUTH and learn from it. Remember Jesus said, “Father forgive
them, for they know not what they do”.
Now, I will caveat this by saying IF there are people in my life who are alcoholic abusers,
drug addicts and doom sayers, I must give myself permission to leave that relationship for
the “better and higher good of all concerned”. Then I say to myself, can I now start over? I
can open my life to healthy people around me. I have a NEW PLAN IN PLACE.
Yet, no one can achieve a healthy new plan without a “CHANGE OF HEART”.
Some people look at life like this, “I DON’T NEED ANY PLAN. I am older now and all alone. I
have very little left in life. I don't see family members, my relationships are all strained and
It’s best I leave well enough alone”.
Wow, most people would say, this is a fairly dark assessment of anybody’s life. Yet, maybe
it’s their truth? NO one knows HOW LONG we will live. So why settle on such darkness?
And, there is darkness out there! Not just in older people but the young as well. This is so
sad. One statistic caught my eye the other day reading People Magazine. An article on
social media jumped out at me. It stated how damaging Social Media is. I would say
whether we are young or old, the addiction to social MEDIA IS dreadful. SIT ON OUR PHONES
OFF AND ON, MORNING TIL NIGHT AND ACCOMPLISH WHAT?
Teenage suicide has gone up over the past year 138%. I was wondering what kind of
plan did those teenagers have in place ON THE DAY THEY DIED?
Whether young, middle age or elderly, HOW WE THINK ABOUT OURSELF MATTERS.
EVERY SINGLE DAY WE HAVE TO SAY YES OR NO TO LIVING LIFE. YES, I AM GOING TO PRAY WHEN
I AWAKE, AND “NO” THERE IS NOTHING ELSE THAT COMES FIRST.
YES, I AM GOING TO START MY DAY WITH LOTS OF WATER, GOOD FOOD AND SOME FRESH AIR
AND WALKING. There is no room for “NO”. I will say affirmations to myself no matter how
depressed I feel I am. I can do this. The main reason for a “CLOSED HEART“ IS IN MY
ATTITUDE TOWARD THE PEOPLE AROUND ME.
Do I have a person who I am at odds with? IF so, I WRITE THEM A TEXT, EMAIL OR LETTER.
How much of how they feel about me and our relationship do I take responsibility for?
I do not say no to this or put it off ONE MORE day. IF I am, thinking about this person, IF they
are on my mind, IF I am upset or disappointed in any way, this will not go away. THIS IS
MY LESSON THAT I MUST DEAL WITH. What for? BECAUSE this is causing me to harden my
heart, and refuse to see things any other way, stay stuck! DO I UNDERSTAND NOTHING WILL
CHANGE. MY COLD, JUDGMENTAL, CLOSED HEART STAYS CLOSED. What does that show me
in how I am growing in life internally and helping someone else? I AM NOT. IF I AM a
CHRISTIAN, I must look at what I am to compare myself too, Jesus Christ. Well, here is a
quick comparison of a forgiving nature vs “closed heart”. Jesus did all he could, he gave
and gave, and his disciples turned against Him. Peter asked him, “Lord if my brother sins
against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Then Jesus blew
them all away in his answer:
“I say to you, not seven times, but seventy times seven times”.
I CAN find a new way today to OPEN my CLOSED HEART. I can sit still and breathe in deep
breaths to the count of ten. “Thank you Jesus for opening my heart to only your will
today”. I say yes to a healthy, light-filled life. This gets rid of my nasty habit of excuses.
I think about a person who became stuck in life, someone who kept saying NO to living life
at it fullest, someone whose life quickly went from youth to elderly. He had a “closed
heart”. The movie has been playing over and over called, “A Christmas Carol”, starring
Mr. Scrooge. He said “NO” to a healthy life. The beginning of the movie shows all kinds of
town people trying to get Scrooge involved in different holiday traditions. His anger
controls him. His misery keeps him down and his misplaced judgmental criticisms have
crushed his entire spirit. He’s figured people out alright, he “thinks”, and he judges them
too. That is until he starts getting visitors from Christmas past, Christmas present and
Christmas future. He is given a gift most of us unfortunately are never given, until it’s too
late, the chance to have a “Change of Heart”.
Scrooge is able to “see himself in the past, present and future”. He is able to SEE all the
dark, sad choices he has made and IS MAKING and where he is SAYING NO. Ebenezer
Scrooge suddenly has been given a rare opportunity to change the word NO to YES. I sit
here and imagine IF I could suddenly take the clamps off of all my judgment calls, all the
times I am saying NO and change it to “YES”. How would my life be? Deciding on
forgiveness is not useless if it opens my closed heart.
Can I have a “change of heart” with everyone I look at?
NOW LISTEN TO SONG FOR TODAY - CLICK PLAY BUTTON IN VIDEO BELOW