Opening My Heart

“If you keep your heart open you can meet people who change your life.” ~ Sam Levinson

“I believe much trouble would be saved if we opened our hearts more.” ~ Chief Joseph

Just recently it occurred to me that I have a tendency to protect myself. I want to be an open hearted person, but I keep a part of my thoughts and emotions hidden. I’m not yet sure why that is but I’m willing to find the answer. This applies to all of my social media and even face-to-face connections. 

The other day I was thinking about how I can better engage you, my readers, and even those who listen to my Story~Power podcast. I’d like to encourage discussions, create a community with like minded people, which I assume many of you are, and what came to mind was the fact that I keep part of myself in reserve and you must feel that and follow suit. And then I saw a way I can become more open. When one of you likes my post, I can reply to your like with a personal “Thank you”. I do always respond to comments with a personal message, but the fact that you took the time to read or listen to my posts and indicate you liked it means a lot to me and I need to let you know that. 

When I receive a personal thank you from a business, I feel seen and appreciated. Let me give you two examples.

Two or three years ago as I was listening to the podcast “What Should I Read Next” with Anne Bogel, her guest was the creator/owner of the CW Pencil Enterprise. The woman’s name is Caroline Weaver WSIRN Ep 99: Nobody hates a beautiful book (or a handwritten letter). Anne’s website is Modern Mrs Darcy. In any case, the podcast was not only about Caroline’s passion for reading, but also her passion for high end, beautifully crafted pencils, pens, and anything to do with writing by hand. I’m so happy to see that her business has survived the pandemic because that Christmas I decided to support her and ordered items from her website. When the package arrived, there was a hand written thank you note inside. When I read it, I cried. It was wonderful to be something other than just a number. Not many businesses add that degree of personal touch to their customer service. I was deeply touched.

Caroline Weaver is not the only one who thanks her customers personally. We like to use environmentally friendly cleaning and personal care items as much as possible and about a year or so ago I found a company called The Grove Collaborative from which I could purchase many of the items we like to use. The reason we decided to use The Grove is because they use a percentage of their profits to plant trees. Our dollars are going toward something bigger than just protecting the environment with the products we use. When I got the first package, again, there was a hand written thank you inside the box. And every time I order something from them, they send a gift. This week it was a beautiful bamboo cutting board.

My point is this. If I want to spread love and joy out into the world, then I have to do it with a completely open heart. So, I’m going to go back to all the likes I received in 2020, and the new ones for this year and send you a personal thank you for your interest. This may take me some time, but one day soon, you might get a notification that I’ve sent you a message.

Have a wonderful weekend and seek out as much love and joy as you can because I believe that is how we heal our wounded hearts.

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2021

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.

Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.

The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published.

Lucinda is also the host of Story-Power a new podcast where she and her guests discuss the stories in all formats that have changed their lives. It’s available here on Sage Woman Chronicles and on Apple, Google, and Spotify podcast apps. Please rate and leave a review. It helps people find me.