LIVING WITH HEART

Hearts to the Future

Candace A. Croft, Ph.D.
© 2008 Candace A. Croft

Like Ebenezer in A Christmas Carol who was visited by three ghosts, I had learned about past, present and future at a tender age.  My great-aunt had a knack for looking into the reaches of time.   She objected when others referred to her ability as an “inexact science” because, as she put it, “Anything a person neither understands nor can perform will undoubtedly be inexact in its execution.  Such criticisms should be aimed at individuals, reserved for those not adept with the skill and art, and not used to target an entire discipline.”

As you might deduce, my great-aunt did not easily abide ignorance masked as knowledge.  “Just lazy thinking.  Remember, child, if you are going to send an opinion into the universe make it an educated one.”

This usually brought her to her most vociferous objection.  “SCIENCE?! ”  She could erase scientific inquiry of her ability with a laugh and dismissive wave of her hand.  “Like any tool, science has its purpose and I appreciate the many advances in technology and understanding it has yielded.  But it also has its limitations.  Too often, it only examines what someone already believes to be true.  Think, child.  If you did not know something existed, how would you know to look for it?  How would you be able to properly assess it?  People, scientists included, don’t seem to look for truth beyond the reach of their beliefs.”  She winked before continuing, “Unless one has a bit of the old-world knowing and uses the peripheral vision the good spirits granted.  That’s where all the great advances have been found.  Unlike the Einsteins, Flemings, and Curies, most people I have known or heard about look straight ahead in their search, or re-search, as the case may be, and overlook important things happening in parallel.  No, I do not need a scientist to validate what I have already observed to be true.”

Legally blind, my great-aunt had keener acuity than most.

 “What do you see for my life?”  The quickest way to smooth her ruffled energy was to ask for the glimpse through time that her peripheral vision could provide.  She took her time answering, busying herself by brewing a pot of green tea—the real concoction from leaves she said infused one’s spirit with greater holiness.  I watched, transfixed and succumbed to the pull of relaxation as she moved around the room slowly and reverently, chanting a tune of nonsense syllables that displaced the noisy thoughts in my mind, burning a little cone of resin in her smudge pot and wafting the sweet-woodsy smoke around the room, and removing purple candles and white ones from their protective cloths, to place them before me and recite a prayer while lighting them, all the while spinning a cocoon of grace as she gathered filaments of serenity around her.  She conducted the same rite each time she readied to take a glimpse through time.

The tea’s warmth was relaxing, its aroma reassuring and, when a dram of honey was added, tasted like mead that left me feeling heavenly.  Seeing me watching her with curiosity, she responded to my unspoken question.

“When open to the universe, a person is open to all, positive and negative, so I take steps to protect myself from being touched by the wrong energies.”  She never specified what the wrong energies were or why they were best avoided and I never asked.  I simply took another sip of the honeyed tea to warm the cold shudder where her words met my spine. 

She finished her explanation in a voice that already seemed light years away.  “I seek to open your heart and peek inside, so I must guard the ark of your temple as well.”  I drank in more reassurance. 

Sometimes my great-aunt used the candles, other times stick or stones or cards.  It did not matter what focused the energy.  What mattered was her awareness of the great periphery that lay before me.  Her voice sounded sleepy as she related things I had told no earthly soul—and only a handful transcendent ones.  I will not disclose everything she said—a girl needs some secrets, after all—but, she spoke about the crush I had on a boy in my class, an unrequited love more painful than any ever acknowledged.  She talked of my desire to be a healer, although she mysteriously did not specify the precise occupation as if the thought wished to remain anonymous.  She mentioned the humiliation I felt when forgetting my lines in the school play, but encouraged me not to give up because my artistic talent would shine one day.
            It was all very affirming, if uncharacteristically short, lasting less than ten minutes.  Where was the insight about what was to be? 

I grumped, saying, “That’s the past.  I can write all of that down.  No trick there.”

“No tricks, child.  The past is irrelevant.  What you have been is over and done and is no indication of who you are or will be, unless you make it so.  In that, you are quite correct.”

“No past, only future.”  Isn’t that what I had said?

“Good, I am pleased to see you have the proper focus to move forward in your life.  Many people much older than you do not.  As to my reading, I read the intent within you that you cannot or will not see.  The ability to record your life is not limited to the past.”  She pushed a pen and tablet of parchment toward me.  “Write your future.”

I snorted.  “Like Santa is going to bring me my wish list.  I’m a big girl.  I don’t believe in Santa anymore.”

“Perhaps too big for your britches, as my grandmom would say.  Unless you create and focus on a wish list for action, how will the universe know what you desire?  How will it know what to deliver?  How will you recognize it when you see it?  You are not a pawn in life, but a co-creator of your destiny.  Now, drink some tea, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and open your heart as you have been taught.  Listen as it speaks its desires.”

I decided to play along.  Taking the pen and a piece of parchment, I wrote the first ten things that popped into my head and pushed the list across the table to my great-aunt.  She studied it carefully, pursing her lips and squinting her eyes with thought.

“A good beginning.   Let’s work on the specifics.  You have grown old enough.”

I remember feeling a sense of importance about finally being grown-up enough to do something of consequence after years of being told I was too young and would have to wait until I was older.   My great-aunt brewed a fresh pot of tea and took scones from the oven and I settled in for a spell as she rummaged through various nooks and crannies around the cottage, pulling out stacks of magazines, glue, sequins, feathers, colored markers, and a treasure trove of craft supplies in the process.  This promised to be the most unusually interesting session yet. 

Anxious to get on with my life, I asked the question common whenever any action was involved.  Whether it was a health regimen, taking a trip, or standing in line for the cashier, we humans wanted to know the time frame involved, as if that held any meaning whatsoever.   Using the adult version of, “Are we there yet?,” I asked, “How long will it take?”

“The universe is beyond time.  It is concerned with strength of faith, focus, and intention of actions during periods of waiting.  If you can wait and remain consistent with your future’s vision during those times when gradual change has yet to produce noticeable results, you will receive your heart’s desire.  Always and ever.  The promise is written.”

As you begin the new year, forget the resolutions.  If you are like the rest of us, you will not maintain the long-term dedication to see them through, usually because they do not represent activities important to your heart.  Instead, take charge of your life by co-creating a future that is the conscious extension of your heart in the present moment.  This requires a lifestyle change toward mindful awareness that is performed by living according to heart every day. 

The key to creating a happy future is dreaming.  Dreams represent our lives at a different level of consciousness, but that does not make them pure fantasy.  Dare to dream and see your life through your heart the way it was intended to be.  Be specific.  If you want to attract a life partner, be clear about what you are looking for physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, economically—any “-ally” that has significance for your choice.   Do not be so specific that you overly restrict your options, but specific enough to provide the universe with a healthy understanding of your desire. 

The same applies to a job:  what kind of job, with what types of responsibilities, using what talents?  Or a house:  what will it look like, in what neighborhood?  If you are not specific, you will become a scrooge when the universe delivers a job, partner, or house:  “Bah, humbug.  That isn’t what I wanted.  I am always short-changed by life.”  By being vague, you and not the universe, will short-change your dreams.  

Do not stop at the boundaries of your personal future, but envision how your dreams come true will affect the shape of the planet.  By actively living your dreams (ironically considered your awakened consciousness), clearly design how others that you know and those you have never met will be affected by the ripples generated from your future being manifest.  How will the landscape of the earth change in response to the clear focus of your heartmind’s landscape?  How will the color of life be altered?

Design your future with all the élan it deserves.  Do not simply reserve your scrapbooking efforts to record your past; make a scrapbook of your future.  Cut pictures out of magazines that reflect your vision for your life in the future.  Create your own visions with sequins, beads, colored markers, and other arts and crafts supplies.  Use watercolors to paint the picture of your life.  Use borders and calligraphy to place everything in context.  Paste some tea leaves next to favorite quotes to inspire their manifestation in your life.

As a marquee for a church in the Southwest proclaimed, “Here, you have no past, only a future.”  It was a sign that would have made my great-aunt smile.  Look to the future, be specific, act accordingly, wait without reference to time and you will—

KEEP YOUR HEARTLIGHT SHINING