A strong heart is not tough. A strong heart is generous. Tight hearts are pinched, and therefore weakened. Never think you must harden your heart in order to make it strong.
A tender heart does not get broken as you may have thought. You don't need to gird up your heart. Remember the resilient willow tree that bends and bows with the winds.
Your heart is not meant to dry up. How can your heart flow in love when it is wizened and dry? Refreshen your heart. Tears were meant to moisten your heart, not to dry it up.
Your heart is not meant to be bitter. It is meant to be sweet. Call yourself Sweetheart, and in your mind, call everyone Sweetheart. Let your heart be sweet.
A heart is not meant to be sour any more than words from your lips are meant to be tart.
You are not meant to put metal straps around your heart or anything.
Hearts are to be opened, not closed. How can your heart sing when it is cramped?
The culprits Fear and Self-righteousness have bound your heart tight. Their influence doesn't develop the muscles of your heart. Their influence restrains.
What flower can blossom when its buds are bound?
You have a budding heart. It longs to open. It has waited a long time to open. It starts to open and then your ego closes it, sometimes openly, sometimes snidely. It is not your heart that is afraid of being misunderstood or rejected.
A heart, left to itself, is a puppy dog who knows not the meaning of rejection. A heart, left to itself, runs over to everyone. A heart thinks of joy, not of embarrassment. A heart leaps over to everyone and splashes its love unremittingly.
The innocent heart is the educated one. Why do you think Christ told you to be like the innocent child?
Innocence and openness of heart are the same. They are like fresh snowfall before it's walked on.
Someone must open his heart first.
Someone must greet first.
Someone must offer his hand first.
Someone must say:
"Look, we are migrants here on Earth. We must band together rather than bind our separate-seeming hearts. Let our hearts beat as One. Let's start having unbounded joy in each other. Let us be friends. Whom am I to be friends with if not with you who stands right before me? Let us befriend each other. Let us have the courage of our hearts' Truth. Let us clasp each other rather than bear arms. My heart is not designed to defend nor offend. It is designed to give and receive. With all my heart, I now give love to you. This is what we are here for. When we all give love, all will have received it. When we all give limitless love, no one will be without.
"We are on this expedition of life together. Rather than a rope around our waists, we have a soft golden cord that entwines us from heart to heart, and it is held by God's gracious hand. In this case, what will befall but love?
"Let every step we take be a step of love, a leap of love from our hearts. There are no chasms, but we will leap anyway. Look, I am in your heart now, and you are in mine. And so may Our hearts be ever knowingly enjoined."