The heart is the central organ in the body, the life giver. A heart that is closed to minimize pain can become the catalyst for illness. Many people who show up in my office with angina, arteriosclerosis, or other conditions related to the fourth chakra have unknowingly shut down their hearts to protect themselves. They may not remember when or how they shut down, but the price they pay is high.

As I slowly healed from an upbringing that wrenched my heart and almost destroyed my ability to love, I realized that I had to develop a new capacity. I began to test and explore the strength of my heart by unabashedly exposing it to the changes and growth playing out in my life. I regularly “took inventory” of my heart chakra to stay conscious about remaining open to loving and being loved.

If you are not attracting love into your life, you might ask yourself if your heart is truly open to love or if you are harboring and feeding old hurts. Taking personal inventory is a powerful way to see if your heart is open or closed.

Sit quietly with yourself and ask:

• What am I feeling?
• Where am I hurting?
• How am I holding love back?
• Why am I withholding love?
• Could I be more loving to others and myself?
• Do I think I need to be perfect to be loved?
• How could I love myself just as I am?
• What does self-acceptance look like to me?
• Have I isolated myself from others?
• Do I lack empathy or am I afraid of intimacy?
• Am I excessively drawn to others, in need of their approval and their love?
• Am I co-dependent, giving too much attention to the needs of others and not enough to my own?
• Am I enough now? If not, when will I be enough?

These explorations can help us evaluate imbalances in the fourth energy center. As we come to know ourselves better, the answers to these questions can help us know when, where, and how our hearts need healing.

Real love is an emotion of truth. Love has the power to heal all the wounds we may have suffered—if we allow it to flow.