Keep An Open Heart

Over the years, life has taught me a lot of lessons.

Some have come and gone, but one has remained true no matter the season.

Honestly, it might even be the most valuable one.

And the lesson is this...

The real work of life isn’t figuring everything out.

The real work it’s doing “the work” to keep an open heart.

When I say an open heart, I don’t mean being relentlessly positive or pretending things don’t hurt.

I mean staying available to life even when it feels messy, uncertain, or painful.

And depending on where you are right now, that might feel easier said than done.

The holidays can bring joy and connection, or they can surface grief, absence, and tension.

Maybe your family looks different than it used to.

Maybe there’s an unspoken heaviness in the room, or a relationship that feels fragile.

Or maybe you’re already feeling the weight of what’s coming next.

Another year, another round of promises that this time things will be different.

Wherever you are, I want you to hear this clearly.

You have permission to close your heart when life feels like too much.

That’s a natural response to pain. It’s how we protect ourselves when things hurt.

But don’t stay there.

Don’t quietly enroll in what I half-jokingly call the closed heart club.

That’s the place where you still show up and still function, but life starts feeling smaller.

You become guarded, jaded, and tethered to anxiety instead of aliveness.

And I get it.

An open heart is a vulnerable heart.

It means you stay present instead of armoring up or checking out.

It means letting yourself feel what’s here, even when it’s uncomfortable.

It means choosing softness when hardness would feel safer.

But, it’s important.

Because when your heart stays open, love has somewhere to meet you.

So if you’re reading this, and your heart feels closed right now, that doesn’t mean you’ve failed.

It means you’ve lived.

The work isn’t to push through or fix yourself, but to create enough safety to stay present with what’s here.

That’s how aliveness returns. And that’s how love meets you again.

And when it does, you’ll be glad you didn’t give up on your heart.

I promise you.

As always, I’m rooting for you. We’re in this together.