When something touches my heart, be it a thought, read or spoken words, music, or something visual, I often put my hand over my heart. I give myself a Heart Hug. Sometimes I do it when I have heard or am listening for Grace.
I read an obituary last week for a former colleague. I had been thinking of Allan on and off over the last several months. I hadn’t spoken with him for years. I think the last time he called me, it was to make sure I knew that another colleague of ours had passed. He likely had his hand over his heart at the time.
Allan was full of mostly Graceful Mischief. We were both born in Philadelphia—thirteen years apart. His family summered in Avalon, New Jersey, and mine vacationed in Stone Harbor next door. We both went to Quaker schools. Helen was his wife of 56 years. (My parents’ names were Alan and Helen.) We both earned MBA’s before we met in Vermont. We loved laughing together. He was irreverent about the corporate cultures that hired us to change them.
We had our differences too. I am an introvert, and he liked to throw parties. While I bowed to Spirit, he danced to Rock’n’roll. I was pretty proper, and for Allan, “moon” was a verb. I loved him anyway.
The heart is the electromagnetic center of our bodies. Its magnetic field forms an energetic torus that matches the torus of the Earth—and it’s holographic. When we center ourselves and give ourselves or others Heart Hugs, we are loving the world into new possibilities.
When I say something on Zoom, and someone else puts a hand over their heart, I feel heard on a deep level, and I hope they feel hugged in appreciation. I have watched whole screens light up with Heart Hugs, whether the speaker is saying something sad or joyful. In my circle, the most frequently used emoji is a heart.
I love conversations that dive deeply into the heart of life, including my own thought patterns. This is what Parker Palmer has long called “living from the inside out.” It can be counter cultural to listen generously and to speak from your heart.
Last week, I had a scheduled phone interview with a woman I somehow have never met. She had a list of questions she wanted to ask me. We kept wandering off-script, as we discovered all the friends we love in common. The whole 45-minute conversation felt like a Heart Hug. We are both quite sure that our paths will cross again, perhaps in person.
Heart Hugs are embraces from Grace.