No doubt you also have received an email forward that contains words of wisdom from poet and author Maya Angelou. I've received this forward several times in recent years. That's OK, though, as her pearls of wisdom are worth hearing more than once. When life gets busy, it's easy to forget words of inspiration. It's easy to let the chaos and busyness crowd in and take over.
Here's one of these pearls (all of which came from an interview done by Oprah Winfrey of Angelou on her 70th birthday): "I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision."
I like that. I can think of times when I've been in a place of fear, a place of anger or resentment, a place of pain—and when my heart has been closed tightly. I have shut others out when in that place, and I have even shut out the voice of wisdom inside myself. The decisions I have made and the actions I have taken when in that place are never my best choices. They are not my most creative, adventurous, life-giving decisions.
I also can think of times when I have felt my fear and decided to move ahead anyway, let go of my anger, and felt and faced my wounds—when I have felt my heart open up to such a degree that I could access wisdom far greater than mine and where I could listen to my own wisdom and that of others around me, too. My choices at those times have been so much better. Not only that, I felt so much more joy and contentment at those times. Can you tell the difference physically and psychically when your heart is open? And don't you feel that more doors open for you at those times? Whether they actually do or whether it's more that you and I actually see all the options spread out before us in ways we don't see when our hearts are closed really is a moot point. Either way, you and I are better served when we open our hearts and minds just as Angelou said.
Is there something you need to do today to open your heart?
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