THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF LIVING WITH A WHOLE HEART
by Ramdesh Kaur
I write this now with a whole heart. That's a pretty remarkable statement for me to make, because it hasn't always been true. My faith in the heart has been shaken, but it has risen from the dust stronger than ever before. There is no magic wand I waved, no single moment that cleared the tears from my cheeks, but my sustained and blessed journey through the teachings of Kundalini Yoga, meditation and mantra have brought me to a place of deep peace. I wish this peace for you.
Love is a dazzling thing; we can know it and be it, but never fully appreciate all of its mysteries. I don't profess to know everything about love and how to live it. I don't know how to ward off the pain and heartbreak that comes with life entirely. But I do know how to rise above it and put one foot in front of the other when sadness threatens to paralyze me. I have learned how to use the tools and techniques within the pages of this book to mend what was broken and open what never should have been shut.
Living with a whole heart is in the purest sense living in love. It was a challenge for me to silence that part of my mind that logically told me that opening myself up to love was too scary and too dangerous. What I have come to realize is that living in anything but a state of pure love is utterly illogical. Love is who we are and who we are meant to be.
Reaching for love is like breaking the surface of the water to take a breath. The force of life begins to flow through you again. For me, love is everywhere. It is in the air and the trees. Love is in the badger and the brook. Love is in you. Recognizing this fills my heart. A whole heart, to me, feels like being able to breathe. In the action of breathing, we live. In the action of loving, too, we live.
If you are ready to begin your own journey into living with a whole heart, I would consider repeating a prayer like this one that my mother gave me in childhood and that continues to support me today: I open my heart to the Universe, accepting love and healing. I'd live and breathe that prayer for a while, until I dared to believe it. Moving into a sacred space where you give yourself the time and energy to open the heart is fundamental.
But you can't just talk about love; you have to be it. If everyone gave love fully and selflessly, what a different world we would live in.
I'm able to live with a whole heart because I make choices throughout my day to support that. I meditate and surround myself with chanting, which is my joy. I give love to those around me, and thank the Divine for my blessings. Love comes naturally to me now because I expect it to. When I connect with the place beyond time and space through meditation, I strengthen my knowledge that love is the fundamental building block of the universe and I empower my own connection to the stream of bliss that is available to us at all times.
These Ten Guiding Principles for Living with a Whole Heart are how I lived my way into happiness and peace. They continue to guide me every day on the path of love. I hope you will take this journey with me.
GUIDING PRINCIPLE 1:
Commit to a Daily Practice
Although I say commit to a daily practice, what I really mean is commit to you. By establishing a daily practice, you tell yourself that no matter how terrible you feel that day, you are committed to feeling a little bit better. This is the time when you can interact with your own soul. This is important during times when your heart aches. Souls are pure light and bliss. By dedicating time to touch your soul, you will experience some of this sweetness on a daily basis, easing the heaviness in your heart.
A daily spiritual practice of prayer or yoga or a cold shower or reading inspirational books or whatever works for you builds self-esteem and strengthens the aura. A strong aura allows you to radiate light and love and attract more of that into your life.
Whatever your personal story, pick yourself up and dust yourself off. Wake up and energize the life force within you. Claiming some time and space for yourself every day is fundamental to opening the heart.
Choose one of the meditations within this book and practice it for 40 days. If you miss a day, start over. Make a promise to yourself that you keep and watch what unfolds. Your practice will deepen as it puts down roots in your heart.