Is Opening Your Heart Simplistic, Naïve, And Disconnected From Reality?Image by Bessi

To just say, “You have to open your heart!” can be perceived by many people as overly simplistic, naïve, and disconnected from reality. It can be interpreted as a feel-good-warm-and-fuzzy approach that has no substance. And it can give the impression that you are in denial of the magnitude of what is happening.

This is completely understandable, because in the mass consciousness, we are only just beginning to grasp the enormous power of the heart intelligence and all that is available to us through the greater human energy technology. For many people, this is still completely new territory.

If we want to navigate our way through this VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) rather than be trapped by it, we need tools and skills for accessing the power of the heart and for transforming awareness, perception, and understanding.

The Intellect, The Ego, and Survival

In the human energy technology, the intellect is the primary mind of the ego. It resides in the head and is centered in the brain. The intellect’s fundamental job is to make sure that we’re OK—to ensure our survival. Therefore, its instinctual response to anything that happens to us and around us is to manage and control everything in order to keep us safe.

The intellect attempts to put experiences and information into boxes, categories, and contexts that it already understands. It wants to make sense of everything that happens as quickly as possible so that it can analyze those situations for safety and security. The intellect wants to fix, to solve, and to alleviate our immediate pain and discomfort.


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In times of challenge or crisis, the intellect will tend to put its own perceived needs and desires ahead of anyone else’s. This is not a judgment on the intellect. It’s simply doing its job, which is to protect your interests.

This is the intellect’s techne and logia—the technology of the intellect. And that intellect technology is just one part of the larger human energy technology. Therefore, it’s important that we allow the intellect to do its job, while, at the same time, remain aware that we are more than intellect alone.

The Intelligence of the Heart

The intelligence of the heart, on the other hand, is the mind of the soul. It has the capacity to see the big picture—to take in all that is happening, understand how it all fits together, and show us a path forward. Since 1991, the Institute of HeartMath (heartmath.org) in Boulder Creek, California, has done extensive research on the intelligence of the heart, the intuitive mind, and heart-brain coherence.

According to their research, the heart’s electromagnetic field is approximately five thousand times greater than the electromagnetic field of the brain (The HeartMath Solution, p. 33). This says to me that the heart’s field of awareness and influence is five thousand times greater than that of the brain or intellect.

Doc Childre, the founder of the Institute, says, “The heart isn’t only open to new possibilities, it actively scans for them, ever seeking new, intuitive understanding. Ultimately, the head ‘knows’ but the heart ‘understands.’ The heart operates in a more refined range of information-processing capability, and it has a strong influence over how our brain functions.” (The HeartMath Solution, p. 6)

Changing How We Look At Things

Nobel Prize winning physicist Max Planck said, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”  The fundamental change we can make in how people think, starting today, is to engage the awareness and intelligence that is rooted in the heart. As the heart shows us a bigger picture, our perception and understanding of what is happening expands. And as our perception and understanding expand, we begin to sense our next steps.

Heart and head then partner to create a strategy and move into action. The human energy technology system can now kick in, and we have a much better chance of creating a more whole, equitable, and sustainable future.

The Great Breaking Open has brought us to a powerful moment of choice: Will we continue to push down the collective human spirit in service of protecting our own personal, family, business, or national interests? Or will we lift up the collective human spirit and focus our attention now on creating a world in which everyone has the possibility to provide for themselves, their families, and their communities? Will we create a world that works for all or just for a select few?

As Above, So Below; As Below, So Above

We are faced with these choices every day on every level of society, from the personal to the global. It’s critical that we pay attention to what is happening on every level. Another one of the ancient wisdom teachings, the Principle of Correspondence, says, “As above, so below; as below, so above.”

The fundamental energy behind whatever is happening in the bigger world is also manifesting in some way in your personal world. At the same time, the energy behind whatever is happening in your personal world is manifesting in some way in the larger world.

Just as many things are breaking open in the systems and structures of society, education, healthcare, business, and government, things are also breaking open in our personal lives. Relationships, family structures, and friendships break open. Emotions and feelings break open within us. The stories or circumstances may be different on the outside, yet at the most basic levels, it’s all about things breaking open.

Dreaming A Bigger Dream—Creating A Bigger Vision

The Great Breaking Open is asking us to stretch our perception, our beliefs, and our worldviews. It’s asking us to push beyond the boundaries of our imaginations and begin to sense the new world that we could create. Something more wants to happen. The Great Breaking Open is asking us to dream a bigger dream—to create a bigger vision of who we can be and what we can do, both as individuals and as societies. It’s asking us to create that new world.

No one person can see or sense that bigger vision alone. Yet together, we can tap into that bigger dream and then bring it into reality. The very act of dreaming together and responding to the dream will itself be the beginning of the healing process—the return to wholeness—for the human spirit.

This takes us back to Ari Wallach’s Longpath and his three transformative ways of thinking that we discussed in the Introduction. We may not see the full healing of the human spirit and of our societies in our lifetimes. It’s taken us many generations to get to where we are now; transformation will also take time. That’s OK. Transformation happens through process, not through outcomes. Through our step-by-step process together, we can discover a new level of wholeness within ourselves. And in turn, we can create a new level of wholeness within our world.

The Great Breaking Open continues all around us and within us. The human spirit has broken open. There is no turning back. What comes next is up to us.

©2017 by Alan Seale. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission of the author and 
The Center for Transformational Presence.

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Transformational Presence: How To Make a Difference In a Rapidly Changing World
by Alan Seale.

Transformational Presence: How To Make a Difference In a Rapidly Changing World by Alan Seale.Transformational Presence is an essential guide for: Visionaries who want to move beyond their vision into action; Leaders who are navigating the unknown and pioneering new territory; Individuals and Organizations committed to living into their greatest potential; Coaches, Mentors, and Educators supporting the greatest potential in others; Public servants committed to making a difference; and Anyone who wants to help create a world that works. New World, New Rules, New Approaches.

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About the Author

Alan SealeAlan Seale is an award-winning author, inspirational speaker, transformation catalyst, and founder and director of the Center for Transformational Presence. He is the creator of the Transformational Presence Leadership and Coach Training program which now has graduates from more than 35 countries. His books include Intuitive LivingSoul Mission * Life VisionThe Manifestation WheelThe Power of Your PresenceCreate a World That Works, and most recently, his two-book set, Transformational Presence: How To Make a Difference In a Rapidly Changing World. His books are currently published in English, Dutch, French, Russian, Norwegian, Romanian, and soon in Polish. Alan currently serves clients from six continents and maintains a full teaching and lecture schedule throughout the Americas and Europe. Visit his website at http://www.transformationalpresence.org/

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