Open Heart

What does it mean to have an open heart? When we think of the heart we typically think of love, compassion and emotions. We refer to the heart when speaking of love. An open heart is a heart that does not close itself off when it has an opportunity to love.

There are ones in our lives who are easy to love. They are compatible with us and we share things in common. We may agree with each other on what we consider to be important issues. We may enjoy some of the same activities. In short, they are pleasant for us to be with; easy to love.

Then there are those who are not easy to love and with some we may feel it is impossible. These people afford us the opportunity to open our hearts wider and to really experience what Jesus taught, “Love your neighbor as yourself”. In the broader sense, your neighbor is anyone who comes into your awareness; from your best friend to someone across the world you hear about in the news. Why would Jesus bother to teach us to love someone who is easy to love? That would not be necessary. He was teaching us in the more universal sense to love even those with whom we have a challenge; even a serious challenge. To love some one does not mean that we must embrace them as our new best friend. It can mean that we pray for them and wish for then the best that life has to offer. And, at the same time, disagree with them and/or choose not to have contact with them if it is not healthy for us to do so.

Maybe in order to love our neighbor as our self we will have to redefine love. If love was easy and narrow, why do the world’s religions teach so heavily on it? I believe love is a prominent teaching in the world’s religions because it is not always easy and it is not meant to be narrow.

An open heart leaves no one out.

Love,

Janie Kelley

Your Thoughts Are Your Life

Thoughts become things. Everything is created twice; first in thought and then in the material world. With the exception of what God created in nature, everything that the eye can see was once a thought in a person’s mind. The chair on which you sit, the device on which this message appears, the clothes you are wearing, the car you drive, ETC. Our thoughts are always creating.

If most of our thoughts are of a positive nature we tend to have a positive life. If most of our thoughts are negative we tend to have a negative life. Our thoughts create constantly. The good news is that we can change our thoughts. Louise Hay says, “You are the only thinker in your mind”. I agree with her. We may feel at times that we don’t have control over our thoughts because they seem to “just happen”. The reason for that is that we have thought some of the same thoughts over and over so many times that it seems automatic. It is not. We may have allowed ourself to embrace the teachings and attitudes of others and those become our thoughts. Just like we chose to embrace them, we can choose to release them.

If your habitual thoughts are producing unwanted results in you life; change you thoughts. It may take a while to rid yourself of these negative mind messages especially if they have been a part of you thinking for years. Be persistent. There are many books and much information in our world today about this subject. Change your thoughts change your life. It may seem too simple to be true but many of the deep, profound truths are simple.

The Bible say, “As a person thinks so is that person.” Simple yet profound.