A few months ago, I was having an emotionally tough time, so I decided to sit and meditate to try and understand my suffering. As I contemplated, a phrase suddenly came to me: Heart Ascension. I was in a very difficult eclipse season involving lots of self love work…and these two words gave me so much clarity and purpose. For me, the term heart ascension calls out just how powerful the act of loving ourselves is.
We all know the importance of loving ourselves by standing in our worth, expressing gratitude for ourselves, etc. For me, such self love has been a difficult, and even unreachable, concept. As Mars and Venus swing back and forth between Aries and Pisces, and with Neptune finally moving from Pisces to Aries after 15+ years, my Aries rising self has felt the need to dig into my Piscean shadows and to address what is coming up. This has been a painful process, because while I dig up uncomfortable truths about how I exist, learning the art of self love has felt like the only path forward, especially in the current landscape.
We are living through difficult times, witnessing the harmful effects of a patriarchal, capitalistic system resisting its inevitable death. The world is demanding that we give up our humanity to survive… to avoid the suffering that those with less privilege are already experiencing. But we have the opportunity to transcend in the face of all that is happening. Heart ascension helps us know ourselves outside of these systems. This action can take away power from those who want status quo by elevating us above the chaos and manipulation. Then, we are able to show up with compassion for each other while creating ways of living that benefit everyone.
So as I feel my heart chakra expand and contract, becoming sore as I exercise it for what feels like the first time, here are some of the lessons that are showing up for me:
The heart center is the epitome of surrender. When we show up completely in devotion to ourselves, we are truly surrendered to the circumstances around us. Self love is all about trust. Just as we trust in Source and in our higher selves, we must also trust in our bodies and souls. We must believe that the situations placed in front of us are for our betterment. As we delve deep into our hearts, we find a wellspring of love that was made just for us.
Self love is about presence and gratitude. We live in a world that constantly wants us to attain more, whether it’s a new job, a partner, financial gain, material things, etc. Self love is slowing down and acknowledging the moments when we are already thriving. Otherwise, we are rejecting our current state of abundance, which will make it harder for us to receive more abundance in the future.
Which leads to my next point: self love is allowing ourselves to receive without question. When we do not feel worthy of Source’s gifts and messages, we are sabotaging our ability to receive. For me, even as I consistently heard from Source that I deserve the abundance that is coming to me, I have felt that I need to be doing something in return. This is not true - the seemingly counterintuitive act of surrendering to receive abundance will bring us the greatest flow.
There is a relationship between the heart chakra (self-love) and the throat chakra (the ability to speak up). When I don’t speak my truth or advocate for myself, I feel my heart chakra cloud up. And in turn, when my heart is trying to repress a painful emotion or I am not sitting in self love, my throat chakra becomes blocked. Sitting with the heart chakra helps us be present with our emotions, which in turn helps us break free of the narratives that hold us back from authentic expression and flow.
Finally, self love is about tending to yourself. Yes, this one’s obvious, but it is so key to this work. Taking care of ourselves on this earthly plane helps us achieve greater connection with the spiritual plane. Grounding ourselves via meditation, gratitude work, time in nature, etc., helps us to listen more deeply to our bodies. And in turn, our bodies will more freely give us their wisdom - those gut feelings, cravings for foods that they find nourishing, the movement that bring them energy, etc., which helps us ground even further.
The lessons above have been liberating for me. They have deepened my relationship with my intuition, my spirit guides, and with Source. And because I know that our souls have come to this plane to have a human experience, I also know that this will be a continuous journey, especially in the world we are in. But this makes it even more important for us to love ourselves. This world does not want us to have self love. It wants to keep us in our places, to constantly manipulate us and tear us down. When we defy this order and put ourselves first, we are standing in a power that no one can take away from us.
I believe that we have an important directive to prioritize ourselves, so that we can create a reality that benefits us all. I hope that these writings helps you think of ways to do this for yourself… and in turn, for this world.