breaking your heart open

Oct 15

Written By JC

Here is a story
to break your heart.
Are you willing?
This winter
the loons came to our harbor
and died, one by one,
of nothing we could see.
A friend told me
of one on the shore
that lifted its head and opened
the elegant beak and cried out
in the long, sweet savoring of its life
which, if you have heard it,
you know is a sacred thing.,
and for which, if you have not heard it,
you had better hurry to where
they still sing.
And, believe me, tell no one
just where that is.
The next morning
this loon, speckled
and iridescent and with a plan
to fly home
to some hidden lake,
was dead on the shore.
I tell you this
to break your heart,
by which I mean only
that it break open and never close again
to the rest of the world.

-Mary Oliver, Lead

Thanks to my friend Matt Zeigler for putting this on my radar; he mentioned, in a brief synopsis, on a podcast and I knew I needed to find it.

“to break your heart,

by which I mean only

that it break open and never close again

to the rest of the world.”

Your heart isn’t the only part of you that can be broken open, never to be closed again.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak to at least 75 students at Michigan State in two Intro to Financial Planning and Wealth Management classes, as well as a social media marketing group. While I hope that I was able to share some valuable experiences and information with the students about my profession and creating content, I really hope that I was able to begin to break open a few of their hearts and minds, never to be closed again.

I told all of the groups that I would be sharing lessons I’ve learned, which I feel are life-changing and unrelated to finance or marketing. I told them that they probably wouldn’t make sense to them today. I told them I was planting seeds. I told them I hoped that these trees would bloom, and they’d learn lessons that many of us don’t learn until later in life at an earlier age. I joked that if I could help them have their “midlife awakening” in their early thirties instead of forties, then I’d accomplished my goal.

I talked about passions.

I talked about intuition.

I talked about abundance.

I talked about taking risks.

I talked about learning from failure.

I talked about experimenting.

I talked about listening to their heart’s callings.

I talked about alignment.

I talked about spirit, mind, and body.

I talked about finding their authentic life.

If they remember some of these things in addition to the practical stuff I shared with them about finance, wealth management, and marketing then I think they’ll experience the magic of opening their heart, mind, and soul to the world and leaving it open—because as Matt mentioned in the podcast, once you experience life with your heart open there is no going back.

See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,

🦅 Some ways I might be able to help you live your authentic life:

🤝 One-on-Ones Let's hop on Zoom to do a guided meditation, a creative brainstorming session, or an overcoming an obstacle session.

💸 AlignedLife+ A unique relationship offered at Santiago that combines life planning, financial planning and advice, and ongoing coaching to help you discover your authentic life, design a plan to bring that life to your reality, and support to help you evolve with the evolution of your authentic life. Learn more here.

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