Heart Stories Part 7
August 17, 2025
Heart Stories Part 7
Why Do We Have Emotions? Wouldn’t life be easier without heartache, loneliness, fear, or envy? Emotions can weigh us down. They’ve driven us to aggression, or even to self-harm. So why have a heart at all?
Because without it, we would not know love, compassion, tenderness, or joy. The heart is the seat of love—and love is our life force. It inspires, heals, and gives meaning to our existence.
Our hearts hunger for love. And when we feel disconnected from it, the passions arise: fear, pride, deceit, greed, over-indulgence, melancholy, lust, procrastination, and anger. These aren’t random—they are distortions born from being disconnected from love.
We can’t control how the heart first feels. Its reactions come unfiltered. But we can choose whether to acknowledge those feelings or bury them. When we bring them to light, we can begin to understand. When we understand, we can heal. But when we ignore them, we risk causing harm.
Even when we work on our spiritual practices, the heart is vulnerable to ego. Recently, I confessed to a dear friend that I had felt envy—and shame for feeling it. But with her holy listening, I saw clearly: my soul was never envious. It was my ego, seeking love in disguise. With loving presence, my friend helped me see that envy was a warped cry for self-affirmation.
The heart carries all the virtues: serenity, humility, truthfulness, equanimity, courage, and more. These are all expressions of love. But when they’re not rooted in the soul’s love, the ego distorts them.
Take equanimity: it is distorted into envy when the ego says, “I need what they have to feel whole.” But true equanimity doesn’t come from getting what others have, but from trusting we already have what we need, or we have the capacities to create what we need.
Love heals the distortion and restores the soul’s truth about who we really are.
Spiritual Practice: Reflect on how you embody the virtues in daily life.
Self-Inquiry: What is your main virtue and how do you express it?
Dear God,
For your virtues, I am so grateful because they heal me. Amen
