The Heart Knows How

The heart has been on my mind lately.

Not just as an organ, or even as a symbol of love, but as something remarkably wise.

Our culture often tells us that healing means getting back to who we were before something difficult happened. Nature offers a different perspective.

An oak tree doesn't try to erase the seasons it has lived through. Each year it adds another ring, quietly carrying droughts, storms, sunshine, and abundance into what it becomes.

Our hearts do something similar.

They don't forget. They expand.

They make room for love, joy, disappointment, gratitude, grief, and hope—all without asking us to choose just one.

I've come to believe that an open heart isn't a heart that has never been hurt. It's a heart that continues to trust life enough to stay open anyway.

That doesn't mean ignoring pain or pretending everything is okay. Sometimes the most courageous thing we can do is soften our defenses just enough to let in one more breath, one more act of kindness, one more moment of connection.

Healing isn't always about fixing what's broken.

Sometimes it's about remembering that beneath the protective layers we've built, the heart already knows how to love, how to receive, and how to heal.

Perhaps that's the invitation this month.

To trust that your heart doesn't need to become someone new.

It simply needs the space to be fully itself.