See Life Through the Eyes of Your Soul

Once many, many years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night. Only I wasn’t in bed sleeping. I was on the ceiling looking down at my body lying on the bed. I studied myself, a little suprised at how unusual I looked from the outside. The next thing I knew, I was more than a body; I had a soul. I was about to embark on a path that would consciously connect me to that soul - experiences on the path to freeing the soul. 


Throughout my life I have had many conscious desires and expectations about my life. I wanted this, I wanted that. I wanted my life to be arranged just so. What I’ve understood is that the journey I’m taking is not one based on arranging my life in a particular way, then keeping it just so. The journey I’ve been on and what I’ve been seeking has been the journey of my sou

l.

Much in life can cause us distress and discomfort when we look with our conscious mind. But if we look beyond what we can see on the surface, we’ll begin to see with the eyes of the soul. The lessons run deep. Often they take time to learn. We learn about power. We learn about love. Courage. Faith. Saying good-bye. Embracing deep love for ourselves.

Learn to see life with the eyes of the soul.

Experience all the emotions that are there.

Discover your truths. Seek conscious peace

as much as you can, and seek peace in your

soul as well. Let you should lead you through

meadows, and take you down deep into the

valleys, for all your experiences are just
that - experiences - on this mysterious
journey of the soul.


  • Melody Beattie, “Journey To The Heart - Daily Meditations on the Path to Freeing Your Soul” January 26 mediation

Heart and Mind Harmony

“In order to be heart minded, we need to bring the heart and mind into harmony and partnership with one another. For this to happen, we have to train the mind not to fear and close off from the heart, and instead, serve our heart and implement its wishes. In order to do this, we have to undo our mind’s association of feelings of the heart with hurt and harm. In situations that would ordinarily have us retreat or retaliate, we need to remain conscious of what’s happening and choose to soften and lean into our heart’s center. Each time we practice this softening, we send a new message to the mind that signals that we are safe, willing, and wanting to live in this more open, more sensitive way. Over time, if we are resolute in our intention to step into our heart, our mind will become less rigid in its defenses against feelings and tenderness, and gradually we will become more heart centered. Remember, we are not trying to pit the heart and mind against one another; we are trying to marry their aptitudes. Perhaps it would help to spell out how I see their differences:

The mind attaches; the heart lets go.

The mind operates out of fear and distrust; the heart operates on faith and ease.

The mind is frantic in its functioning; the heart is slow, deliberate, and peaceful.

The mind thrives on and enjoys problem seeking and solving; the heart thrives on acceptance of all things and labels nothing as “wrong” or “right.””

— Heart Minded: How to Hold Yourself and Others in Love by Sarah Blondin

https://a.co/hSaqRkg

A New Earth

A new heaven” is the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness, and “a new earth” is its reflection in the physical realm.

What is arising now is not a new belief system, a new religion, spiritual ideology or mythology. We are coming to the end not only of mythologies but also of ideologies and belief systems. The change goes deeper than the content of your mind, deeper than your thoughts. In fact, at the heart of the new consciousness lies the transcendence of thought, the newfound ability of rising above thought, of realizing a dimension within yourself that is infinitely more vast than thought.”

  • Eckhart Tolle

Dec 5 Let Go of Feeling Overwhelmed

So often the simple tasks of life can seem overwhelming. But feeling overwhelmed is only a reaction to them.

Many things need to be done - laundry, housekeeping, car maintenance, bills, taxes, appointment, work - the every responsibilities of our lives. The task of quietly beginning , doing the first step of the first task can help us find our way through. Once we begin, we see that things aren’t overwhelming. The simple act of setting to the task simplifies it. Our sense of peace reappears in the magic of the present moment.

Magic and power don’t come from contemplating all that lies ahead, how much needs to be done, all that might go wrong, whether we’ll get through. That’s fear. We don’t find the magic and power by denying, escaping, or ignoring our feelings, even feelings of being overwhelmed. Feel what you need to feel. Release it. Go forward in love, one moment at a time.

We will be given the power to do all
we need to do. Take the simple steps
that lie before you. Take one step at a
time. You’ll find the way again.

- Melody Beattie, “Journey To The Heart”

Nov 29 Getting to Know Fear

What we’re talking about is getting to know fear, becoming familiar with fear, looking it right in the eye—not as a way to solve problems, but as a complete undoing of old ways of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and thinking. The truth is that when we really begin to do this, we’re going to be continually humbled.

Pema Chodron

The Crack in the Mirror Nov 21 Class

When there’s a crack in the mirror, I can’t see myself as I am - all I see is the crack. The crack tells me that there is something wrong with me, that I’m not enough and that this is how others see me, too. It’s not a question of finding a better mirror. It’s about seeing beyond the crack. I am not, nor ever will be perfect. But I don’t need to live for approval. I need to live for acceptance and joy in the unique, worthy, lovable, beautiful sacred being that I am, and to celebrate the same thing in others. That’s seeing beyond the crack. I’m learning to love my imperfections; in the end, they make me who I am, in all my flawed glory.

- Richard Wagamese, “Embers, One Ojibway’s Meditations”

Nov 17 class

“loving-kindness—maitri—toward ourselves doesn’t mean getting rid of anything. Maitri means that we can still be crazy after all these years. We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous or full of feelings of unworthiness. The point is not to try to change ourselves. Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already. The ground of practice is you or me or whoever we are right now, just as we are. That’s the ground, that’s what we study, that’s what we come to know with tremendous curiosity and interest. Sometimes”
― Pema Chödrön, The Wisdom of No Escape: And the Path of Loving-Kindness

Sacred Silence Nov 15 class

Inner silence is not the same as being quiet. Being quiet means that you are not speaking, or that you have removed yourself from external noise, or that you want to get away from chaos to be alone. Entering silence, on the other hand, is the choice to turn your attention inward with the intent to listen for the rustling of holy wind in your soul. Holy listening is listening “below” your head. Release the endless questioning nature of your mind and breathe your attention into your solar plexus. You will have to do this again and again during the day because out of habit, you will kick into mental gear in a microsecond. If you are engaging in ordinary life activities today, you have to adapt sacred silence and holy listening to your world. It is never impossible to enter inner silence or to retreat to your holy center. In fact, what could be more important than to realize you can retreat to your holy center while conducting business or shopping, or during a stressful exchange with someone? You do not have to flee to a remote place to recharge and protect yourself. Your soul is resourceful; it is a vessel for guidance and grace. Should you find yourself in such a circumstance today, close your eyes and repeat the prayer, “In this sacred inner space, I shall wait for You. I am waiting, Lord. I am listening.”


Love, Caroline

Deep listening, Deep Speaking, deep Questioning nov 7 class

Part of the mystery of Oneness is that, like the sun, its light is everywhere and yet we need to grow toward that Oneness to know its light. To open our experience, we need to enliven our deep listener, deep speaker, and deep questioner. These skills are as essential as walking, breathing, and eating.

Deep Listening
We listen deeply by listening to the Source through immersion, absorption, and presence.

Deep Speaking
We speak deeply by listening with heart to the Source, no matter who or what conveys it, and translating that presence into meaningful speech. We so filter what we hear through what we believe that we limit what we take in to only what is familiar. Speaking deeply has something to do with letting things pass through our heart as they are.

Deep QuestioningWe question deeply by listening to what is offered and surfacing its meaning and usefulness through further questioning and honest dialogue. Think of a deep question as a door that opens between you and what you experience, not as a veiled way to criticize or take things apart, or as a strategy to bide some time till we can pursue our own agenda. A sign of a a good question is that the questioner is more alive for having asked it.

- Mark Nepo (paraphrased)

You are Needed Nov 10 Class

You are required right now. There is an amazing shift in consciousness occurring, and you are needed. Consciousness is silently inviting you into your bigness”

- Pamela Wilson

Consciousness is the luminous space in which the world arises and subsides. That space is the life that I Am. It is timeless and eternal. Consciousness can also be called:

God
Spirit
Eternal
Source
Formlessness
Space
Stillness
Silence
The Unmanifested “

So, though we can never really know consciousness, we can experience our union with it. 

- Ekchart Tolle

Welcome class Nov 4

Love is the active power that breaks through the walls that separate one human from another. - Erich Fromm

What does it mean to open the heart?

The Secrets of the Spiritual Heart, excerpts from Michael Singer’s book, “The Untethered Soul”
(note I have changed Michael Singer’s writing of the word “you” to the word “we” and the word “your” to the word “our”).

When we take in the world, our experiences are processed by our senses into energy patterns that our mind and heart can receive and experience. If these energy patterns create disturbance, we will resist them and not allow them to pass through us. When the energy can’t make it through the mind because of conflicts with other thoughts and mental concepts, it then tries to release through the heart. That is what creates all the emotional activity. When we resist even that release, the energy gets packed up and forced into deep storage within the heart.

The alternative is to open and relax the heart no matter what. To allow all the experiences of life to come in and pass through our being. Only then can we begin to see the secrets of the heart.

The heart is the place through which energy flows to sustain us. This energy inspires us and raises us. It is the strength that carries us through life. It is the beautiful experience of love that pours through our whole being. This can go on all the time – unending inspiration, unending love, and unending openness. That is the natural state of the healthy heart. 

So the invitation and the work is to Transcend the tendency to close the heart and to allow yourself to experience every note the heart can play.

HeartOpeners is an inclusive community of open-minded and open-hearted individuals who share a desire to bring more presence, joy, and well-being into their lives. Through the practice of Qigong, we access our connection with infinite life source and flow this energy into our bodies and our lives. 

Joining HeartOpeners is about  much more than signing up for a series of classes, it is an opportunity to participate in a sacred community of energetic and heart-felt connection -  the benefits of which are greater than any of us can imagine!

I invite you to join this community by subscribing monthly. With a monthly subscription you can join any or all of my online classes, I will be offering 11 per month (eight 60 minutes and three 30 minutes) and access the ever growing video library.

All the sign-up instructions are on my website under Heart Openers Virtual Community.