Heartsplosion

I was working with a stunning stone called Aragonite recently creating one of a kind necklaces. As I worked with it the word, “heartsplosion”, kept going through my head like a steady beat. I know it's not a word, but heart explosion felt too clunky of a phrase to capture the eloquence of what I felt in my heart while working with this gorgeous Aragonite.

It surprised me that I felt so much in this part of my body. Aragonite is known to be a very grounding and stabilizing root chakra stone, so I was confused at first.

Then it hit me…when the root chakra is healthy (or moving toward a state of health)…when you feel safe and secure and grounded in the here and now, your heart is able to open up. To have a "heartsplosion" so to speak.

The need to find safety in my body in order to connect to my heart has been my experience and it's what I’m currently working the most on at this point in my journey. Without that sense of safety in the body my heart closes and acts as a sort of valve that keeps all my creativity and life force energy dammed up inside.

It feels like shit and is pretty exhausting tbh.  It also doesn't allow me to do the thing that I love the most which is to create from my heart and connect with other people through my creations.

Developmental trauma does that to you. It teaches the body to close up and shut down in order to stay safe. It’s brilliant of the body to do this and necessary when you’re small and unable to care for yourself, but to live fully this needs to shift.

One of the saddest parts of developing within a traumatic system, whatever that system may be, is that you end up walking around for decades not realizing that you’re shut down. Shut down feels normal. It feels right. It feels safe.

I have been actively working to cultivate safety within my body for over a decade now. I didn’t know that’s what I was doing when I started. I thought I was just getting sober, doing step work and seeing a therapist.

Now, almost 13 years later, having developed the capacity to accept safety and support from others, it is growing more and more within me. The unexpected benefit is that as a sense of safety grows in my body, my heart is opening and my creativity and life force energy are moving more freely. It goes in fits and starts, but it’s moving in the direction that feels right.

This insight about the relationship between my opening heart and the safety and stability that I've been cultivating would have been missed, though, if I'd stuck to what I learned about Aragonite through crystal books. You see, the most important thing (from my perspective) when working with crystals and minerals is to use the info you find about them in books or online as a loose guideline.

If you get to caught up in the “rules” associated with them you run the risk of falling into dogma and the world sure as hell doesn’t need any more dogma! Hold the info you find about them loosely and use it as a starting point.

Let them be the teachers and guides they are, but always follow your gut. The same goes for any system you work. Anything can point you toward the true source of the answers you’re seeking, because you always have that true source  within. You just have to allow it to emerge and allowing takes time. It can’t be forced.

You may feel like this couldn’t be true for you but that’s just your brilliant self trying to keep you safe the only way it knows how.

You are ready for an upgrade.

The answers ARE within. You may not realize it, though, because they were tucked away for safe keeping. Once you’re ready, you’ll find them. The most important thing with crystals, or any systems that are meant to help you grow, is to let them speak to you in whatever way they want to.

When you do that you WILL hear exactly what is meant for you. It may be faint at first and you may have a hard time recognizing it, but with practice it will develop. One day you may even find yourself having a "heartsplosion" when you least expect it!