| Keeping an Open Heart in the Face of Disappointments |

Part of being an artist is riding the natural ups and the down cycles. There will be high times (we are getting published, in shows, having sales, or accolades) and inevitable lower times (we didn’t accepted into a show or get the grant, or residency or what have you).

A while back, I watched a documentary called “How To Cook Your Life”, a film about Edward Espe Brown, a zen priest who was the head tenzo, or cook, at the Zen Buddhist retreat, Tassahara.

There were many pearls in this film, but one that struck me was when he spoke of life’s disappointments. I will paraphrase, but basically he said, that we hold in our hearts our dearest, most precious wishes for ourselves – for our happiness.

And then in life, we encounter inevitable heartbreaks and pain. When things don’t turn out the way we want we try to control or defend ourselves from the disappointment we feel.

So we begin to separate ourselves from our heart’s desires. And in doing so, we actually separate ourselves from our heart.

And while we may succeed in insulating ourselves from future disappointments, we create a much deeper chasm. We begin to feel an ache inside; a longing. And no matter how many material trophies we acquire it doesn’t go away. Because we have separated from our heart.

We all guard our hearts so zealously. We are so careful about whom we open them to. We are so afraid of breaking them.

This is an exercise in futility. In this life, the heart will break.

It will break open and grow bigger.

It will break like the sunrise. It will break like a wave. It will not be destroyed.

What destroys us is keeping our hearts locked up in armor of fear. This fear of being open and vulnerable doesn’t allow our hearts to grow.

The irony is this. We are not meant to protect out hearts. Our hearts are meant to protect us. When the heart is open and loving it is free of fear.

There is no stronger “protection” than a fearless heart.

Yearn (detail) © 2004 watercolor, acrylic, gouache on panel