The Door is Open………

That’s what Cindy said any and every time I knocked on a door she was behind.

The Door is Open she would say loudly.  In her 57 years there was not one time she said anything different.  Her door was always open and I was always invited in.  Always.

The opening line of Dawna Markova’s poem ‘Swing Wide’ is;

Let us swing wide all the doors and windows
of our hearts on their rusty hinges
so we may learn how to open in love.

That is what Cindy knew without ever being taught anything about love.  She was love and she loved, pure and simple.  The doors and windows of her heart were wide open every single moment of her simple and beautiful life.

The essence of what I teach is letting go of self judgement and criticism.   The work asks you to hold your self with loving kindness.  Though that is rarely spoken it is the essence of the work. Holding your self with loving kindness is the antidote to almost all pain and suffering.  When you hold your self with loving kindness you will hold others with loving kindness.  It is a natural effect.

‘As within so without’ the universal law teaches.

In truth, most of your tensions, compensations and unhealthy patterns of resistance come from a lack of love.  What is in its place is fear of judgement.  “You did something wrong.  You’re not okay as you are.  You’re not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, rich enough, big enough, small enough, whatever enough…..”  The list is endless and we all know parts of it intimately.

You were born free.  You were born pure and innocent and trusting until someone did not satisfy your need.  It happened right away in infancy, and there was no getting around it.  No one could ever meet all of your needs when you needed them to be met.  The problem came when you believed that there was something wrong with you, when you internalized what someone else could not give you as being your fault or lack.  That is when you started closing your doors.  The hinges were well oiled when you were little, but after time they grew rusty and some of them began to close tight.

What if you never closed the door to your own love and compassion?  What if you never blamed your self?  What if you knew it was not your fault?

Cindy, in her perpetual innocence knew how to keep her self open.  She lived openly.  She loved without condition.  And mostly, when she looked in the mirror the image she saw reflected back at her was beautiful.  She forgave, she let go, she lived every moment of her life in the present moment and she taught anyone who cared to learn, how to do that as well.  Her living taught me how to love with openness and how to live with freedom and ease in the present moment.

I have taken many pictures of flowers and am amazed by the way all of them open to reveal their beauty.  Here is a simple rose blossom I especially love;

What if this flower never opened?

You have the opportunity to witness extraordinary acts of beauty. You also have the opportunity to participate in countless acts of beauty when you open your eyes and hearts to see them.  If you don’t risk opening to who you truly are your beauty will never be seen by others. And, if you don’t open your self you will never know your beauty when it is reflected back to you by others, because that’s what happens when you look at another. You see your reflection coming back to you. What you see in another you see in yourself. What you love in another you love in yourself.

Today, I ask you to risk opening your self to another.  Take a chance.  Even if it’s a baby step, take a chance and show who you really are to someone else.  Let your guard down.  Let your walls soften. Let your hinges loosen.  Let your self be seen for who you really are and witness what happens.  You can close up if you want, but for a moment, risk being seen for who you are and see if a miracle happens.

Open the door to love.