One of the signs of spring is the opening of the beauty of nature. One of the signs of growth in an individual is the ability to open your heart. When you are one with your spirit and filling with love becomes a part of your spiritual practice, you will find that the desire to open your heart increases. When there is enough love in you, you will want to share that love with the world around you.
Before we knew about discernment, the wisdom of the heart, we often opened our hearts without understanding how to do this safely and with respect for our own well being. As the result of the pain involved in these openings, we encountered fear and often decided not to open our hearts again. As with all growth, we come full circle to old issues, but now we want to see them with new eyes. To open your heart when you are full of love, to discern the situation in which you want to bring love, and to allow yourself to choose the best possible loving behaviors in the situation you are entering is to know how to love wisely and well.
Some love we offer is intimate and vulnerable. This kind of love requires respect and valuing from the other person in order for the relationship to grow and flourish. If someone is not able to bring that energy to the relationship, we must withdraw from the situation out of love and respect for ourselves. This does not mean that we send negative energy into the relationship; it simply means that we respond from self love and self valuing. This is the discernment that allows us to live with an open heart.
Some love is genuine, but has in it the desire to change another person for the better. The first discernment required is the discernment of personal intention. You must be completely honest with yourself about the intention of your loving. Only then can you choose the best way to love in a situation. While love always wants the best for the person you love, in its purest and safest form, it does not try to control the decisions of another person. It encourages, supports and nurtures the best thoughts and actions of the person you love. It does not try to control how those thoughts and actions are manifested.
In some situations, love may manifest itself differently, based on your own discernment about the person you are loving. For instance, while it may be loving to buy food for someone who is hungry, it may not be loving to buy alcohol for someone who is addicted to that substance.
Remember that the open heart can hold within itself a true and lasting desire for the highest good for the people you encounter in your life. The way the heart opens and responds must be based on loving consciousness, both for yourself and for those you encounter on your path.
May the season bring you more love and the blessings of the open heart.