HOLDING SPACE WITH THE EXPANDED HEART

When you expand your heart beyond its usual boundaries, you create space for the needs, concerns, and even the wounds of others, or even an entire group. However, how can you do this without also taking on their wounds yourself? First, it’s important to recognize that the purpose of expanding your heart is not to heal wounds that are not your own. By opening your heart and offering that space to others, you’re essentially creating a safe environment where they can rest, free from judgment or resistance. In this space, all the pain associated with their experiences—whether from their own actions or those of others—is allowed to exist and be expressed in its full intensity. This process helps release that pain, allowing it to evolve into a new state or form. This is how holding space can assist others in their healing journey.

You might wonder how the heart is able to 1) expand and 2) bring others into that expansion. We aren’t referring to the physical heart itself, although it is indeed the center from which this expansion radiates. As you know, all forms and their components are vibrantly alive as energy, infused with the life force of creation. At its core, form is pure potential and can be shaped by intention. When you direct your intention toward this pure potential, filling its formless state with the contents of your imagination, will, and desire, you initiate a shift in its fundamental energy. You create an expansion into a specific identity that reflects your original intention. It takes practice and belief to achieve the results you seek. The main idea here is to illustrate that, with intention alone, you can infinitely expand the energy of your heart.

You can direct your expanded energy to embrace those who seek solace and acceptance, inviting them into your heart. By doing this, your heart opens to love, allowing a direct connection to form between you and those you support. This is how you can maintain a safe space for others without harming or exhausting yourself. It’s not solely you who is providing this support; it is Spirit, embodying Love, that facilitates this connection. You are merely volunteering to be the facilitator or link, using your heart as the mechanism to connect both yourself and those you support to Source.

Offering your heart to others has tremendous benefits, not only for them but especially for you. Consider the analogy of volunteering at a soup kitchen. You have direct access to all the ingredients needed to create a substantial meal for those in need: spices, vegetables, grains, and proteins. As you chop, sauté, and blend various foods into sauces and stews, it’s your responsibility as the chef to sample portions of your meal as it progresses toward completion. This way, your service in nurturing others also nurtures you.

The call to be of service begins with serving oneself, which is a reflection of self-love. You cannot genuinely serve others without first offering that same love and service to yourself. It is essential to learn how to hold space for yourself; without experiencing deep self-love, your efforts to help others—even with the best intentions—will be incomplete, much like a soup that lacks sufficient sautéed onions and salt. You won’t know how to elevate a bland and mediocre soup to greatness.

However, it’s important to note that when you embrace your desire to be of service, you also open yourself to enhancing the quality of that service. Over time, you will become more skilled and develop mastery in the ways that resonate with you. This growth occurs because you have expanded your capacity to understand what truly makes your service effective, allowing you to deliver it from a well-anchored and secure place.

© | Gloria Constantin | All Rights Reserved |

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