Heartstrings Part 3
November 19, 2025
Heartstrings Part 3
What last pulled your heartstrings? What broke through the wall that stands between us and our emotions? We all have such a wall. It is necessary in this world, where sad and heart-wrenching things happen all the time. The wall protects us from breaking down at the drop of a hat and from being emotionally incapacitated over and over in any given day. But the wall can thicken and become a barrier to our souls instead of a protection. Or the wall can be breached, flooding us with emotions.
A healthy life regulates and balances how many disturbing feelings we take in. The balance is created by understanding our heart center and what it needs and does not need at any given time. But we cannot always prevent or filter emotional triggers. Positive ones or negative ones. For example, when informed about the death or a serious accident of someone we love, the news comes right through and over the wall.
These are times when our spiritual strength comes into play and we receive deep peace even in shock, agony, and the unspeakable. In the worst of times, something miraculous happens to the heart. The soul arises out of the most terrible, the darkest, and the irredeemable. The soul’s arising is not a decision, an act of will, or a psychological coping mechanism. It is the power of the Divine acting in our hearts.
So, when things seem so horrible that it does not make sense to go on, to remain in the fight, or even to lift our head, the Divine empowers us. Though we are tempted to lose heart and fall into the abyss, God enlivens our souls. Hope appears. It is as if long ago, we made a sacred contract in which we gave ourselves to the Divine. When the soul arises against all odds, we may remember that contract or we may not.
Let’s not fool ourselves; some dear souls cannot survive the shock, loss, and darkness, so they suffer in myriad ways. Some of us arise even from these depths, while others succumb. It is not ours to judge their situation or make sense of it. To judge is our ego’s way of dealing with the mystery, the unfair, and unanswerable. We cannot know or control the destiny of others’ souls.
Happily, however, during the worst of times, many experience, through no power or decision of their own, the embodiment of the Holy Spirit. In these cases, the heartstrings are not just pulled; they are wrapped in the arms of inestimable love.
Spiritual practice: In what challenging experiences did your soul arise? What was that like for you?
Self-inquiry: How would you describe your emotional self regulation?
Prayer:
Dear God, For the miracle of your love for our broken hearts, I am so grateful. Amen
