Living from a heart space feels so uncertain, so dangerous. But my soul yearns for it all the same. I get uptight. I want to control. Anything and everything. I want to protect. I want to protect myself from pain. I want to shield against the inevitable torrential downpours of life. But what a silly thought! What a crazy thing to do, argue with reality like that. Instead, I will know that change and impermanence are part of this world. Just as we don’t stay babies forever, and just as the bad days eventually disappear, so everything in life is in a constant state of change. Why then do I try so hard to protect and shield myself from the inevitable? Why not be free flowing like water and moldable like clay? Why not open my heart up to it all? Love and pain and hurt and beauty. Open myself up to being adored and being rejected. Open myself up to a different view, to a different perspective. Open myself up to love and loss and betrayal and acceptance. Loving every single thing that comes my way. Every plan that gets thwarted, every expectation that falls short. Moving gracefully through it all. Open. Open. Ready to bleed and ready to love. I open myself.