The Ear of the Heart

“The heart is forever inexperienced.”

                          -Henry David Thoreau, Walden

This past Christmas, 2025, my mom was all about making heart shapes from candy canes. She taped them to notes and cards and displayed one on our dessert table on Christmas Eve. She was having so munch fun with the hearts. The candy cane hearts made me smile, these red and white striped symbols of love.

In nature, hearts come in many shapes and sizes and I find them everywhere when I’m paddling or hiking. The quiet way this perfect reflection of the reed on the water forms a heart shape, a gentle reminder of the love and light that surrounds us and the importance of keeping our hearts open…

…the unique way the ice forms a heart at the bend in the river, and inner truths are given passage to surface in the outer world…

…the simple way the moth’s wings form a heart shape, encouraging us to fly rather than remain stuck in fear or in our comfort zones…

…and the subtle heart-shaped stones I find everywhere on shorelines and hiking paths, universal symbols of love, affection and emotional connection, like this one I spotted crossing the Thoreau Bridge.

There is also so much talk about heart healthy eating. Perhaps this is not the best picture to represent that. It’s a heart-shaped potato chip. Never mind.

I titled this essay, The Ear of the Heart. It was a concept I heard while listening to a podcast by Emmanuel Vaughan Lee, founder and executive director of Emergence Magazine, a publication dedicated to exploring the connectivity of culture, ecology and spirituality. He spoke about the importance of listening deeply, in silence and stillness, to the messages of our hearts.

So, as we begin February, our “heart month,” I want to share my “heart thoughts.” When I first heard that phrase, ear of the heart a visual came to mind that looked something like this….

…sort of rudimentary but if you think about it, our ears together form a crude heart shape. So, what does it mean to listen with our hearts? Our lives are busier now than ever and our minds are always thinking…. always planning…never resting. The heart, on the other hand, just keeps beating, consistently, quietly waiting for us to stop and listen to its deeper messages. Often, in quiet moments, we hear whispers of our heart’s longings. Yet we often dismiss them and allow our minds to rationalize our way to something else. It’s the shortest, yet most challenging journey from our heads to our hearts, or our hearts to our heads. It’s a two-way street.

When our hearts remain closed, as a protection against past pain or fear of future pain, we close ourselves off to life. First, from being able to hear what our heart wants to say, and second, we create emotional numbness for ourselves and lose our zest. This results in a diminished quality of life. We just skim along the surface, afraid to feel ALL the feelings and experience ALL the emotions to live a full and meaningful life. Who wants that? And why do we close our hearts?

I believe it’s because we are afraid to be vulnerable. Afraid to put ourselves out there and take a risk. Afraid to push ourselves out of our comfort zone. Vulnerability takes courage.

So, when our hearts are broken open, often as a result of a painful experience, our challenge is to embrace the brokenness. This is our opportunity to allow the factions of fear or the gremlins of grief or any other negative emotions to find their way out. They inch their way up the inner chambers of our hearts, peek out of the opening and make their escape. With these lingering burdens no longer weighing on our hearts, we free ourselves and ultimately the light of compassion and joy and love finds its way in. This shattered entrance to the heart is also a two-way street. Grief and fear move out, love and light move in.

I decided a while ago that it’s ok to let my heart remain slightly broken, so that nothing can get closed in. A little crack is not necessarily a sad thing. And by keeping my heart open in this way, I can hear its whispers more clearly. Its voice can speak through the opening of brokenness. I guess this gateway is the ear of the heart.

I love this quote from Judith Wright’s book, The One Decision, “When you live the way of the heart, you unleash the power of your emotions, intuitions, creativity and passion. The most powerful way to live, the way of the heart, is also the most vulnerable.”

So, during this heart month, I encourage you to find some time for quiet and stillness. See if there is anything your heart is whispering to you in the silence. Allow a tiny crack to open your heart, to hear the beautiful messages it is sending to you.

*****

At the start of each day this month, can you take one or two minutes of quiet to deeply listen to your heart?

Jot down a word or two that surfaces for you.

At the end of the month, review your words. Are there any new whispers from your heart, and if so, what do you do with them?

Even the kayak is kinda heart-shaped, don’t you think?