Excerpt from How to Live from Your Heart (Hucknall): What Is Heart Energy?
HEART ENERGY – WHAT IS IT?
Heart energy flows
through the heart from a source in the universe. Different religious sects
label this source according to their belief systems. It can be called God,
Brahma, Shiva, The Divine Mother, etc.
Essentially, this energy comes from a Higher
source and passes through several stages before reaching an individual. It
flows through the heart center in waves, very much like solar energy. These
waves of energy change as they pass through the heart. They vary according to
the makeup of the individual and also in the way that the individual uses them.
With each use of the heart, these
waves become stronger and purer. They vibrate in the heart center and affect
others. Again, this energy is as strong as the individual’s capacity to contain
it and use it.
The heart that is activated with this
energy uses it for its many functions. The energy will vary in intensity
according to the function. For example, if you are sending love energy to a
friend, you will use a stronger amount of energy than if you are using heart
energy to answer a personal question. When the energy goes outward, it has to
be more intense in order to reach another person.
This energy, even though it comes from
one source, goes through changes as it flows downward. These changes reflect
the conditions needed for its various functions. For instance, healing energy
is a very pure form of this energy. It should be sent out in the same intensity
as it has when received from a Higher source. A good healer will have a pure
channel through which to send the energy. If the healer’s heart is not pure,
the energy can change and lose its intensity.
Using heart energy to understand a
problem is another function. Since this energy is within the person, it needs
less intensity to achieve its purpose. The energy will have a calmer, more
passive feeling. Because it is less intense, the reflection within can last a
long time. This is what happens in meditation. The energy is soothing and calm
and can sustain the person for long periods.
Heart energy is the force behind
everything you do or believe in. This energy inspires you with creative ideas.
It is the energy of love and compassion. Heart energy is you in your Higher
Self and you in your everyday ego self. It contains all the mundane polarized
thinking and experience, and also the wisdom of
the ancients. It is an ever-expanding and ever-growing energy that expresses
itself in many ways. For example, the energy of the heart will fill a person
with warmth and kindness, and then change into an energy that aspires to
greater knowledge.
Your heart contains both the Higher
energies and the energies coming from your emotions. The qualities of these
energies are varied, but the container through which they flow is the same.
Think of yourself as a living vessel full of energy. This energy is what makes
you live, breathe and feel emotion. It is the energy of suffering as well as
the energy of love. Both flow through the heart center and both impact the
physical body.
The Higher energy that comes from a
universal source keeps your heart tuned. It regulates the right amount of
energy you need to have at a given time. The part that is not regulated comes
from your personal emotions. Emotions will block the Higher energy if they are
negative. Positive emotions will be absorbed into the Higher energy. Love will
be enhanced by the Higher source. Anger will block the natural flow from the
source. The emotions, therefore, play an important part in working with your
heart center. Often, they will cloud answers or change them according to
personal needs.
It is impossible to see Higher energy.
It is totally invisible when it is inside you, but you can see energy in the
air, energy that is part of nature, energy that is similar to your energy and
from the same source. If you go to the seashore and watch the water at sunset
or early morning, you may see sparks floating through the air. These sparks are
particles of energy that become visible when the energy of the water connects
to the air. Energy like this is also flowing through your system and is your
life force, or what is often referred to as psychic energy.
Another type of energy comes from the Higher
Self. When you begin to connect and communicate with the Higher Self, its
energy transmits through the heart in a very gentle and loving way.
Lastly, the energy of the heart is the
way to find your own inner spirit. To open your heart means to begin to attain spiritual
wisdom and to learn about nature and its laws.
All of the above are ways that heart
energy manifests. Yet, there still remains a whole area of the heart center
that has energy not normally used––an area of mystery. In it are the intuition,
the inner knowing, the seer, the priestess or priest, the meditator, the
philosopher and the mystical lover. This is your mythical self, the self of
dreams, the self that holds your true essence.
This area of the heart is the true
chalice. Its energy does not flow outward toward others but instead flows
further within, sometimes achieving magic or miracles. It answers your deepest
wishes. This part of the heart, this energy, is the poet, the artist, and the
dreamer. When you connect with it, you begin a journey into the unknown, a
journey very few people begin. When the heart center begins to be activated,
this part also will become apparent.
In beginning your work with heart
energy, it is best to take one kind of energy and experiment with it. In this
way you can determine for yourself the different qualities. The first and most
recognizable energy is the energy of emotions. Take, for instance, the emotion
of love. If you feel love toward someone, your heart will feel pressure,
movement, expansion, or warmth.
Try the following exercise:
Pick
someone you really think you love.
Picture the person in your mind’s eye, and
then place the image into your heart center, asking: “What are my true feelings
about ___?”
Experience
your heart’s response.
Keep
visualizing the person and feeling what is in your heart.
You should feel a strong response in
your heart center. If you feel nothing or very little, it’s possible you don’t
love the person as much as you think you do, or your heart is blocked. It’s
good to go back at another time and try the exercise again. If you’re feeling
irritated or out of sorts, this also can stop the reaction. Practice this
exercise, but only with one person at a time; otherwise, there may be an
overlap.
Whether the emotions are love or
hate, they come from a deep source within. As feelings of love begin to emerge
through the heart center, they take on an intensity of feeling. The love will
either be very strong and passionate, or peaceful and calm. All are energies
that the heart center processes. These energies are the conduits of your inner
emotions and form what is referred to as the desire body. Any desire, whether
positive or negative, resides in this part of you.
The desire body produces the feelings
and sends them through the center to materialize on the physical plane. For
example, a college student has a desire to pass his exams. He will feel that
desire very strongly in his heart. The energy of that desire can motivate the
student to do well, or it can freeze into fear and inhibit the student,
blocking his positive motivation and reversing its effect.
When the heart processes
emotions, it does so in accordance with each individual’s needs. Since
individual needs vary so radically from person to person, there is no set
determination on how much energy is processed or how strong or mild it is. The
main thing to realize is that emotional energy is constant, and if the energy
becomes negative, it can cloud the heart center so that none of the other
energies can flow through it freely. For example, if you are angry and
irritated about something, it is very difficult to be inspired or
creative.
With the emotions there is a mechanism
that regulates heart activity. If the emotions are too strong, the heart will
literally turn itself off because it can’t contain all the intensity. That’s
why a person will keep feeling the same emotions over and over again about a
given situation. It’s not that he can’t drop it: it’s because there is so much
emotion in the unconscious that it can’t all be processed at once. Sometimes
the emotion will shut down completely and a person will think that he is over
it, but then, a year or even later, the same emotion will come up again.
The heart might be seen as a container
varying in size from small to large. It can only hold a certain amount of
energy, depending on its size. You enlarge the container by working with your
heart on a regular basis.
The emotions take up a lot of the
heart’s activity. Alfred Lord Tennyson said, “It is better to have loved and
lost than to never have loved at all.” However, love can be good and/or bad,
depending on how it is used. Here is a story that illustrates this:
A young man fell in
love with a beautiful woman who was an evil witch. He was totally under her
spell. She kept demanding that he bring her things, and he would willingly find
anything her heart desired just to be with her.
One day, she beckoned to him and said
she wanted the heart of his mother to eat for supper. Even though he loved his
mother, he couldn’t say no to the witch. He went home, killed his mother, and
cut out her heart.
He ran as fast as he could back to
the witch. Not looking, he suddenly fell across a stone on the road and the
heart went flying from his hand. As it landed next to him on the ground, it
cried out, “Have you hurt yourself, my dear son?”
Inspiration and
creativity are also energies processed by the heart center. These energies can
be full of life and enthusiasm, or they can be quiet and calm. This energy can
flow through you quickly, or it can be a slow energy that comes in what might
be called glimpses of insights. The important thing to remember is that this
energy comes through the heart. When you are feeling it, you can link with your
heart and receive additional energy. The more you do this the stronger it
becomes.
Creative people have a direct
connection to this source. Rarely do they lack inspiration. Everyone has the
ability to achieve a high amount of inspiration. This aptitude comes from
allowing the child to be expressive. When this is not encouraged, the aptitude
is not developed. Working with the heart will bring that natural ability back.
Everyone has the ability to access the
source of wisdom and knowledge. This usually comes through the heart from the Higher
Self. This is part of your ability to grow in understanding. The energy of the Higher
Self is very diverse. It will appear in a manner that is most appropriate for
you at a given time in your life. For instance, someone’s Higher Self may
appear to be a gentle wise man or woman. Another time it may be a warrior
knight. This would be in keeping with specific information you need to learn at
that time.
In working with the energies of your
heart you may find yourself unable to contain them all. There is a general fear
that too much energy in the heart will be destructive. To keep the energy
regulated is a matter of learning your own personal makeup. If you naturally
have a lot of energy, you are someone who has to handle heart energy carefully;
otherwise you could become fatigued. You need to notice when you go into
harmful extremes. One reaction might be having palpitations in the heart center.
It is best then to breathe slowly, link with your Higher Self, and try to
become calmer. Naturally, if you are having palpitations in your physical
heart, you should go to a doctor.
Someone who has a calm personality can
handle heart energy better. This type of person can contain it and use it
sparingly. Usually meditation is a key to having a calmer personality. Someone
who meditates can handle heart energy very well.
What needs to be looked at and
examined when you use your heart is not only how to use it, but when not to use
it. Often a person feels it is important to love everyone without taking into
consideration whether the recipient of that love really wants it or is really
helped by it. The following is a true story illustrating how using your heart
to help others can be wrong:
A
friend’s mother was a very wealthy woman living in England in the 1920’s. The
family owned a large estate and rented out land to the local farmers. When the
mother died, the farmers came to the father and demanded money, claiming the
mother had been giving them a monthly allowance. This allowance had been going
on for years unbeknownst to the father. Not only was he not able to continue
this practice, but because of the depressed economy, he was also forced to sell
his lands.
The
farmers could no longer afford to rent from the new owner. Since they had
developed no other skills, it was impossible for them to make a livelihood. The
mother’s compassionate gift ended up hurting them. If they had not received it,
they would have tried to make the lands produce more and could have bought the
land for themselves.
When you use your heart’s energy, it
is important to never force it on someone not ready to receive it even when you
feel it will benefit the person, to do so would be an infringement. Working
with your heart center will help you determine whether the person really wants
your help.
Each time you use your heart in a positive
manner, a change in your perceptions occurs. It is a very slight change, but
with time and constant use, you will begin to experience a sense of knowing
that is very different from the mind’s knowing.
For example, you may be speaking with
someone you sense is upset. Your heart will tell you to say something that may
make it easier for the person to talk about what’s happening. As you listen,
your heart will respond in a way that continues to be helpful. If you had used
your mind instead, you might have asked the person, “What’s wrong?” in a manner
that is invasive. Using your mind to respond can come from a sense of “I can
fix it” rather than a sense of what the person really needs.
Much of the work in learning to
communicate is simply to listen with your heart and respond from an inner sense
of understanding. When you come from a place within that knows, you will always
feel it in your heart. The truth of the knowledge resides there.
With each relationship there are
always hidden factors. Not only do we have past and present conditioning, but
we also carry within us needy emotions and desires that we hope will be
fulfilled in the relationship. These desires can block seeing and hearing
clearly. Many misunderstandings are caused by this and are perpetuated as a
person goes from relationship to relationship.
To determine whether you are reacting
to someone from your heart or from an inner personal desire or need is
difficult. Usually, a way of checking is to place the name or an image of the
individual into your heart and ask the Higher Self for more understanding.
However, if your neediness or desire is strong enough, that can cloud the Higher
Self. It’s good to be aware of such strong personal desires, for then you know
you have to be very clear in the relationship, particularly if it is a romantic
relationship where all one’s needs can be awakened, and the ability to look at
the relationship objectively can become impossible. The best thing to do in a
case like that is to stay calm and detached, let go of as much emotion as
possible, and then try the exercise of asking for better understanding.
Everyone has within a sense of
discrimination–– an unconscious knowing about something or someone. Determining
whether a relationship would be a good one comes from this inner knowing. Using
discrimination in relationships would save many broken hearts. This part in you
can really feel the positive and negative qualities of the person and determine
how those qualities would interact with yours.
Using discrimination can be helpful
not only in personal relationships but in your work as well. Discrimination can
help you to know the right approach and way of conducting a specific business
project.
Discrimination is not intuition. They
differ in their ability to determine right from wrong. Discrimination is based
on knowledge, whereas intuition comes from the senses. Here’s an example: You
are interviewing an applicant for work. Your intuition senses there is
something ‘off’ about the person. Your discrimination would advise you to ask
more questions than usual to determine if the person knows the work. Having one
without the other can be unbalanced. Discrimination without intuition can be
cold and calculating. Intuition without discrimination can be too ungrounded. Both
working together are very powerful.
With each use of your heart there is a
way to check whether you are working with discrimination and intuition instead
of emotion. Emotion can cloud them both. You can practice with the following
exercise:
Exercise:
Go through the process of connecting with
your heart center.
When you feel
connected place an image of someone or something you need to understand better
in your heart and experience the energy that comes up in you.
If the energy
feels balanced, ask to be given more understanding.
If the energy
feels strong and emotional, let it slowly die down…then once again place the
object or person into your heart and this time ask your Higher Self to help you
clarify the problem. If the energy comes up again in the same way, you know
there is too much emotion around this subject for you to get a clear
indication.
If this is the case,
ask your Higher Self to send you understanding in another manner.
You may receive an answer at another
time when you least expect it. It’s sometimes easier for the Higher Self to get
through to you when there is no time for emotions to arise to cloud it.
As you work with your heart energy,
you will find that you experience it differently from when you first started
working with it. The energy itself will feel more refined and there will be a
definite quality to it that you can identify better. Remember, all of these
practices take time and commitment.
Read more about How to Live from Your Heart HERE.
Read more about Nanette Hucknall and her works HERE.
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