heartflow: the wellspring of life
I’ve used the word “heartflow” for several years now. I don’t really remember how it came to be, I just know that it’s stuck around. it feels like it effortlessly describes my spiritual and creative process, and for me it feels very authentic to those processes. I wanted to share with you today a little about what it means to me and why I use it.
heartflow is very closely related to the command found within Proverbs 4:23: “above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (NIV). I particularly like the versions that say something along the lines of the heart being “the wellspring of life.” there is something so beautiful to me about picturing the heart as the place life flows from. I know other people may experience life from a more mind-oriented or body-oriented perspective, and those perspectives are totally valid! however, living life from the heart first is certainly true in my experience.
heartflow can best be defined as the concept that my most vibrant life (spiritual and creative) comes out of the inner work done in my heart. the more I spiritually feed and take care of my heart, the more I come alive and the more I find my creativity flourishing. for this reason, the poetry I have written over the years (my primary creative outlet since college) has almost entirely been focused on self-love.
I spent a lot of my life tearing myself down and believing I wasn’t good enough, so my heart was understandably very hurt and in need of healing. so I began to write poems that reminded me of my worth and my belovedness. over time, that grew into a habit of loving myself and started extending beyond myself to others as well. when I love myself well, I can truly heed Jesus’ command to love my neighbor as myself.
my heartflow is the source of all my joy, delight, and creativity, and I do my best to treasure it, guard it, and use it. I don’t take my heartflow for granted; it is a precious and holy space of life-giving love to me. I protect it, but not at the cost of letting my creativity go “unused.” my heartflow is for myself, yes, but it is certainly for others as well. my creativity is the way I best know how to love others - I seek to tell the truth about each human being’s unique belovedness.
I wrote the poem below years and years ago, titled “heartflow.” It reflects some of these ideas I’ve shared with you and explores more about how and why I write. thank you, friends, for exploring this concept with me today. may your own inner process flourish as you seek to love yourself and others more.
clear your mind and make some space to hear the unwritten melodies of heaven locked away within the deepest parts of a soul unknown yet to you the secret ponderings of a heartflow uninhibited let this creativity be represented by the sparks you share with a world unexpected and the fire hidden underneath the exterior never quenched continually hungry for a love divine as deep as waters run And God said separate the waters from the waters and God called the expanse heaven
—m.