Introduction

This book shares my journey of discovering the amazing power, wisdom and transformation that flows through our spiritual hearts. As I share my experiences, and a few from others who also discovered their hearts’ spiritual dimension, I am inviting you too to discover your spiritual heart.

What is your spiritual heart? Your spiritual heart is the expression through your physical heart of the higher aspects of your wisdom and power as a spiritual being. That wisdom and power are very real things. I’ll be sharing a lot about them as we journey.

I’ve learned most about my spiritual heart from experiences. My journey begins with a life-altering experience of my spiritual heart, long before I understood what it was or how to access it. In the first chapters, I share that experience and the amazing situation that was the starting point of my journey of discovery.

I’ve come to realize that our heart’s deepest desires – whether for wealth, loving relationships, a great job, career, enlightenment, happiness or all of the above – are the result of our spiritual hearts calling us to experience the fulfillment of those desires. Your spiritual heart is the only wisdom truly capable of bringing those magnificent possibilities fully into your life.

In this book, you will learn how to connect with that wisdom and power. You will learn the access code so that your heart’s desires can and will be yours.

That’s a pretty big promise. I distrust pie-in-the-sky promises, so I did some exploration. What I have just told you is rooted in groundbreaking science from The HeartMath® Institute, and proven in the lives of many people from all walks of life: policemen, teachers, executives, laborers, managers, caregivers, moms and others from all around the world. It works in minutes – and, as you use it, the experience of fulfillment and happiness becomes wonderfully real.

I have taught thousands of people how to access their spiritual hearts, and I have watched their lives change. Their experiences have been the greatest proof of the transformative power and wisdom that I now have the pleasure of introducing to you.

Your spiritual heart is not new to you. You have been touched by it many times. It has brought you smiles and laughter, joy beyond what you thought you could hold. It has brought you power, passion and purpose. Where life seemed darkest, you have reached for and embraced it. Sometimes you have been frightened of it. Your spiritual heart is always present in your life, although often it is difficult to identify. Its power is always available, although sometimes your spiritual heart seems difficult to access when you really need it.

This amazing power seems to be one of the most elusive things to grasp, find or discover. When we are stuck in a hard place – hurt, angry or upset – we can’t even imagine that such love, care, and power could be available to us.

I understand this because it has seemed that way for me many times in my life. In those moments, if you had told me about the transforming power of my spiritual heart the way I will be telling you about it, I probably would have called you a liar and rejected as foolish idealism what I have just said to you.

Fortunately, in this journey of discovery, I proved to myself that the things I have just told you are true. We each have a spiritual heart. It is powerful. It changes us and it changes the world around us. I discovered that we actually can get to it when we are hurt, angry or afraid, if we know the access code. It is this discovery of its accessibility under duress that is one of the most meaningful discoveries to me. It is at the points of hurt and pain, fear and anger, that we most need wisdom and power. It is in those moments that we most need to express the highest qualities of our being. Those are the moments when our spiritual hearts can make the biggest difference in our lives.

In my journey of discovery, I found that I was not seeking my heart alone. Many men and women sought that connection before me. They sought this knowledge and skill across many faith traditions. They used nature, hardships, family, silence and love to try to find it. They had explored with philosophy and science.

I read some of their work, and it inspired me. However, their work could not connect me with my spiritual heart. In the end, I had to apply their discoveries. I had to experiment to see if their ways worked. I found that some of the techniques and directives I learned were wonderful and effective. Some were slightly helpful for me, and some were no help at all.

I have a background in spiritual study and service. After a legal career, I spent many years as a minister, supporting people in their spiritual growth. In this book, I am not going to go into the many ways that religious traditions try to define the spiritual heart. While they all recognize it in some way, I have found those efforts at definition can at times become barriers to experience the spiritual heart – and it is the experience that is for me the most profound.

I am relying instead on the inspiring work of science. Most of the discoveries of the heart that I will share with you are from the research of the HeartMath® Institute. The people at HeartMath® used science to map the activation of these qualities of the heart. In addition to measuring them, HeartMath® developed highly effective techniques for accomplishing the heart’s transformative potential. I had the great privilege of being a part of their staff for seven years.

HeartMath® has shown us through its research how to connect directly to the heart. That direct connection is powerful, quick, and transformative. This breakthrough discovery from science lets us access the amazing wisdom of the heart. This simple discovery is to me, without a doubt, the greatest spiritual discovery of our time. It is the direct path for deep and effective spiritual connection.

While HeartMath® acknowledges the spiritual, it is in service to secular institutions such as businesses, schools, hospitals, government, police and caregivers. They come from the secular world of science and serve a secular world. While they are working with the heart, and thus have a deep and profound respect for the spiritual nature, that is not the primary focus of their books or their trainings. I get to do that.

I was the first clergy person to come across their work. I saw, in their discoveries and techniques, the practical transformative experience that was eluding so many people. With their permission, I now get to bring all of my experience of over forty years of spiritual study – including my deep involvement and appreciation of their work – to you. And I get to share this amazing discovery as the spiritual breakthrough that it is.

In this book, I am focusing primarily on the technique that HeartMath® calls Freeze-Frame® . When I am working with it, I use a different focus and describe it differently than the way they present it in their literature. I am doing this with HeartMath® ’s generous permission. I call my way of working with this series of steps The Heart Wisdom Tool.

Because of my years of working closely with HeartMath® , as well as having acquired the understanding of the heart that their knowledge and skills have given me, they have very graciously allowed me an exception they do not extend to others – namely, the permission to present to you a modified version of this very effective technique. If you would like to experience their excellent research and books, many of which describe the tool Freeze-Frame® , go to www.heartmath.org or www.heartmath.com or search online for “heartmath.”

Your spiritual heart is the expression through your physical heart of the higher aspects of wisdom and power that come from your spiritual self. Just as we have a physical aspect of ourselves, we also have mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of our selves. This higher spiritual nature is accessed through the physical heart. What this book focuses on is much more than a physical phenomenon or potential. It is the direct experience of your spiritual self.

I have conducted trainings, workshops and coaching all over the country, teaching people these marvelous discoveries. I’ve shared it with thousands of people, and many of them have found it helpful. I have often heard:

• “This really, really helped me.”
• “This changed my life.”
• “This makes all the difference. I needed it so much.”

You, like me, have challenges in your life. Some of those challenges are very painful and difficult. Some of the ones I will share with you were painful and difficult for me. Some of your challenges are everyday decisions and situations that you want to handle well. Some of mine were too. In both of these situations, the difficult and the everyday, your spiritual heart is there to lift you, guide you, and heal you. It has been there for me. I know it will be there for you.