Face Behind the Heart

 

Below the outer face is the inner face that resides behind the heart.  This is the face you had before you were born, soft, open, tethered to the deeper inner self. 

 

I will never forget the first time I looked into my daughter’s face moments after she was born.  It was the most beautiful face I had ever seen.  Such tiny eyelashes and tender lips and those deep dark liquid blue eyes that looked back with such curiosity.  She seemed to glow from within.  I was beholden and utterly smitten with that face. This is the face we all have behind our hearts soft, utterly tender, awestruck, and longing for love.

 

To manage in the world, we wear masks over the inner face to keep this part safe and secure. These are the masks of professionalism, competence, power, and allure.  We get into difficulty when we come to believe that we are our masks.  The price we pay for this ignorance is a disconnection from the innermost self.

 

Reclaiming the face behind the heart is to love the part that remains childlike. This is the loving we deeply long for. To be loved for who we are at our deepest level.  Because no one else can see into this face, we have to give this love to ourselves.

 

When we lift up the chest and spread open the sternum, we are inviting this part to be more out in the world with us.  We still wear our masks to manage, but loosely so and more playfully.