At this point on Monday, you may be wondering if you’re body’s even awake, let alone your heart. Stick with me for a second though. I think what Hafiz has in mind here is a different kind of awake than what your alarm does for you, although the trip there can be equally shocking at times.
An awake heart is an open heart — one that isn’t closed off in an effort to prevent disappointment or pain from touching it. When you close yourself off that way, you also close yourself off to the deepest levels of happiness, joy and of course, love, that the human experience can offer you. Keeping an open heart takes courage, though. It takes commitment, and yes, an extra dose of resiliency. It requires that you want those highs enough to persist through the discomfort of the lows.
You have to know that everything passes, eventually. There was a clear sky before the storm, and while there may be shifts in terrain, there will be clear sky after it, too. And as our old friend Pema reminds us, you’re lucky enough to be that sky. If you can pour rain, then you can also pour light.
