By Bryan Dodge of Dodge Development
The Open Heart: A Path to Authentic Living
An open heart is one of life’s greatest blessings—and one of our greatest responsibilities. It’s not always easy to keep it open. Life happens and wounds form. Fears grow and slowly, often without us even noticing, we begin to protect ourselves. We close off, we guard, and we withhold.
But deep within us, there is a quiet, persistent understanding that the heart was meant to stay open. It was made to flow, to connect, to give and receive love freely. When we open our hearts, we remember who we really are. We remember that we belong to each other.
So how do we keep it open, even in a world that can feel heavy? And what happens when we don’t?
The Journey of Opening the Heart
Opening the heart is a gentle, intentional practice. It doesn’t happen all at once. Often, it starts with the simple, courageous act of being present—with ourselves, with our feelings, with others. Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God”
It grows when we practice radical compassion, both for ourselves and those around us. Compassion softens the edges of our resistance. It makes it safe to feel again. When we extend kindness to our own struggles, the heart naturally begins to unfold like a flower reaching toward the sun.
It grows when we let ourselves feel—really feel. Not just the comfortable emotions, but the hard ones too. Emotions aren’t weaknesses; they’re messengers. When we stop numbing or avoiding them, we allow space for healing. Each tear shed becomes a tiny river of release, carrying away the debris that blocks our capacity for love.
It grows through authentic connection—those brave moments when we choose vulnerability over perfection, truth over performance. Real connection begins when we drop the masks. In these sacred spaces of honesty, we discover that we’re not alone in our humanness. Our shared vulnerability becomes the bridge that connects us.
And sometimes, it grows in stillness. In reflection. In the quiet spaces of journaling, meditation, or simply sitting and listening to our own breath. That’s where we can hear the wisdom of the heart most clearly. In silence, the heart speaks its truth without the noise of expectations.
Importantly, opening your heart doesn’t mean letting everything in. It means choosing love over fear. It means discerning, not denying. An open heart is wise—it knows what to embrace and what to release with compassion.
The Subtle Ways Hearts Close
Most of us don’t set out to close our hearts. It just happens, slowly and subtly. The process is often so gradual we don’t notice until we find ourselves wondering why life feels flat or relationships feel distant.
It might begin with betrayal or loss, moments that shake our trust in the world. To protect ourselves, we build walls. These walls may start as temporary shelters during storms of pain, but over time, they can become permanent structures that no longer serve us.
Or it could be the fear of rejection, which convinces us that playing small or staying silent is safer than being seen. We learn to edit ourselves, to offer only what we think others will accept. Yet in doing so, we reject the very parts of ourselves that long for acceptance.
Sometimes it’s judgment and comparison—with others, with ourselves—that quietly chips away at our self-worth and distances us from empathy. When we’re busy measuring and evaluating, we forget to connect. Critical thoughts become the guards that patrol the boundaries of our hearts.
And yes often, it’s just being busy. The constant hum of a world that doesn’t stop moving. When we’re always rushing, we forget to feel. We substitute accomplishment for connection, productivity for presence. Gradually, we become strangers to our own hearts.
A closed heart might seem like protection, but it’s costly. It shuts us off from joy, from intimacy, from meaning. The good news? No matter how long it’s been closed, the heart can reopen. The capacity for love remains within us, waiting to be remembered. Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insights”
The Abundance of an Open Heart
When the heart is open, life starts to shift in profound and sometimes unexpected ways. We begin to feel joy in the smallest, simplest moments, a shared smile, a deep breath, the morning light through the window. The ordinary becomes extraordinary when seen through the lens of an open heart. A child’s laughter becomes a symphony; a moment of connection becomes a treasure.
We love without needing anything in return. Love becomes a way of being, not a transaction. We discover that giving freely actually fills us up rather than depletes us. The heart operates on a different economy—one of abundance rather than scarcity.
We feel deeply connected—to other people, to nature, to something greater than ourselves. Life feels aligned. The artificial boundaries between “me” and “you,” between humanity and the natural world, begin to dissolve. We recognize ourselves in others, and others in ourselves.
When this happens, we stop chasing fulfillment. We start living it. Because fulfillment doesn’t come from having more. It comes from being more, like more loving, more accepting, more present. When the heart is open, we realize that what we’ve been seeking has been within us all along.
The Emptiness of a Closed Heart
Emptiness doesn’t come from what we don’t have. It comes from what we’re disconnected from. This truth becomes painfully clear when we live with a closed heart.
When our hearts are closed, we can feel completely alone—even surrounded by people. Loneliness isn’t about physical isolation; it’s about emotional disconnection. We can share a home, a bed, a life with someone and still feel miles apart when the heart is closed.
We go numb, not just to pain, but to beauty too. The vibrant colors of life dull into shades of gray. Food loses its flavor. Music loses its power to move us. Nature’s wonders fail to inspire awe. When we close off from feeling pain, we inadvertently close off from feeling everything else too.
We may achieve, succeed, perform—but inside, there’s a hollow echo. Because the heart isn’t just a vessel for love; it’s the source of our aliveness. External achievements can’t compensate for internal disconnection. The trophies and accolades we collect can’t fill the space where connection should be.
And perhaps most tragically, when we close our hearts, we forget who we are. We lose touch with our essence. We become strangers to ourselves, living from the surface rather than the depth. We forget that beneath all our roles and responsibilities lies a soul that yearns to love and be loved.
But even then, healing is possible. Re-opening the heart is the way back. One breath, one moment of honesty, one act of courage at a time. The journey back to an open heart might be the most important one we ever take.
Living with an Open Heart in a Challenging World
In a world that can feel harsh and divisive, keeping an open heart requires intention and courage. It means choosing connection over protection, even when it would be easier to retreat.
It means practicing forgiveness—not as a gift to others, but as a release for ourselves. When we hold onto resentment, the walls around our hearts grow thicker. Forgiveness doesn’t mean condoning harm; it means freeing ourselves from the burden of carrying it.
It means cultivating gratitude as a daily practice. Gratitude is like a key that unlocks the heart. When we pause to appreciate what is, rather than focusing on what isn’t, the heart naturally opens wider.
It means creating space for wonder and awe. Looking up at the stars. Marveling at the intricate patterns in nature. Allowing ourselves to be moved by art, music, poetry. Wonder reminds us that we are part of something vast and beautiful.
And it means choosing love, again and again, even when fear tempts us to close down. Each time we choose love in the face of fear; we strengthen our capacity to live with an open heart.
A Gentle Reminder
“Keep your heart open. Even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts. That’s when love wants to move through you the most.”
May you be gentle with yourself in the moments you feel like closing off. And may you always find your way back to the sacred, life-giving space of an open heart. For in that space, you will find not just a connection with others, but the deepest connection with yourself—the remembering of who you truly are. The journey of the heart is not linear. It’s a spiral path of opening, closing, and opening again. What matters is not that we never close, but that we always find the courage to open once more. In this opening and reopening, we discover the art of being fully alive.