As with all things, there is a balance we must find in each moment, both consciously and beyond our awareness. In Ancient Chinese Medicine, this balance takes place in the Heart Protector. In western medicine, it is known as the pericardium. This protective sack surrounds the Heart, acting as physical protection, but any meaning beyond the physical is usually lost to the Western mind, and this is no exception.
Even in society today, the Heart is known symbolically as the center of emotion.
The Heart Protector therefore, is the Protector of our emotional vulnerability. The Heart Protector energetically balances the Love we feel with the vulnerability necessary for Love. If we Love too much, we become too vulnerable to Heartbreak. If we protect ourselves too much, we cut our selves off from Love. The Heart Protector holds the appropriate balance in any given moment. Despite the thoughts of society today, it’s not always best to open yourself fully to another, and that should not be the goal in a relationship. Every one of us needs a certain degree of privacy, lest we lose our Selves. Losing our own identity in another is disempowering for everyone. The goal of any relationship should be to maintain your Self so that you can empower the other person and the relationship.
If your Heart Protector becomes too open, you lose your boundaries and your self-definition. If you are too open to Love, you allow too much of yourself to become subject to other’s judgment, which leads to self-doubt. Your motives, thoughts, actions and emotions become uncertain under the scrutiny of whomever you’ve opened your Heart to. When you’re uncertain about yourself, you can’t support anyone else. A completely open Heart Protector leads to insecurity and neediness.
If someone wants you to lose your Self to them by becoming totally vulnerable and open, they are probably acting from an energy of insecurity and control. Don’t do it. Losing yourself to someone else has nothing to do
with Love. It is about control. Love is open and expansive and free and empowering. Love is not smothering, controlling, or manipulative.
A genuinely strong relationship requires people who are secure with themselves. If you know who you are, you provide a solid foundation for a relationship of expansion and growth. When everyone involved is secure with themselves, everyone grows and expands in their own way, while supporting everyone else’s individual
growth and expansion.
When energy is not wasted on insecurity, control and expectation, it can be used to support growth and expansion of everyone involved. I’ll take that over an ego-based relationship any day! Opening fully to another is a great fantasy, and it’s where Humanity is headed, but we’re not there yet.
The mass consciousness has not yet moved away from expressing thru Ego, and that’s what you’ll become vulnerable to, if you open your self fully. We don’t want to be vulnerable to another person’s ego. Fully opening our Heart Protector leads to selfdoubt, insecurity and a broken heart. Opening to another is a Magical Blessing, but opening fully to another is careless and foolhardy. Find your Heart Protector balance and allow others their balance.
