Namaste.

   As we are deepening into the endarkenment, awaiting the return of the Light, awaiting symbolically the Holy Child, i am aware that there is much heartbreak in people all around.     

      A couple of weeks ago I began to work with the koan, What is heartbreak?  A koan is a question or statement that cannot be answered by the mind and it puts our awareness right into the Mystery, and it opens us into a new paradigm in which the Mystery takes the helm of our attention. Once the koan is invited, it does the work, it works the magic. It privides what is needed.

       The koan cooks and turns us on the sacred spit, our tough skins and shells fall into the fire, and what is frozen or tough in us falls off the bone into ineffable tenderness. We become juicier and our hearts softer.   

          A koans is a perfect Gift to yourself for Solstice, Hanukkah, and Christmas.

         This one is taking me on an exquisite journey. Many surprises and gifts show up each day in the form of a note from someone, a deep realization, a youtube video, a piece of music, news from a friend, a synchronistic encounter, a dream, an unexpected burst of sobbing--all in answer to the question, What is heart break?  

         Like all koans, it has opened up deeper Sacred Questions: 

Who is heartbroken? What breaks? What happens when the heart--my heart--breaks open? What catalyzes the experiences of heart breaking open in any given moment? How many different kinds of heart breaking open are there? How are joy and  heart breaking open the same? Is each heartbreak its own portal to the Mystery?

           So I leave you with this koan, these questions, and this little delight that was delivered to me yesterday by a beloved old friend:

With the blessings of a breaking open heart,

Sheila