“Why carry the weight of the world on your shoulder when instead you can rest it in the Light of your heart.”― Keith Anthony Blanchard, Homecoming: Crossing the Bridge to the Soul
The world is crying out for healing. The earth is weary and needs our care. Our country, too, aches for restoration.
As we step into this powerful season of the solstice and the holidays it’s hard to ignore the brokenness we see around us.
How do we respond? How do we stay anchored in our hearts when fear, anger, disconnection, and overwhelm seem to dominate?
I don’t know about you, but I had to step back recently. Two weeks ago, I pretty much stopped reading the news. Now, I skim the headlines just enough to stay informed, but my soul needed time to breathe—time to rest in the stillness of the long nights, to stretch into the infinite of the dark, starry skies, beyond the rush of these days and the weight of negative stories.
Healing, no matter the wound, is most profound when the heart is involved. Opening the heart allows us to access the most extraordinary parts of ourselves. When we focus on healing the heart, everything else begins to align.
Introducing Module 6 of Mining Inner Wisdom
It is with deep gratitude that I share Module 6: Connecting with the Wisdom of Your Heart.
The song “My Heart Beats” came to me in a flash of inspiration last year. This year, we brought it to life in the studio. At first, we thought it was complete. But when we visited a musician friend recovering from open-heart surgery, we shared the song with him. As he listened, his eyes glistened, and he said softly, “I hear brushes.” (He’s a drummer!)
Months later, he joined us in the studio. With his delicate touch on the drums, alongside the vocals, bass, and piano, we knew—we felt—that the song was finally complete.
What hadn’t dawned on me until recently was that two of the four musicians on this recording had experienced open-heart surgery. Perhaps that’s why this simple song feels so raw and poignant.
Mystics, poets, and sages through time called the heart “the seat of the soul.” Yet, in our modern, mechanistic view, the heart is often reduced to a pump that moves blood through the body. But we know the truth: stress, heartache, loneliness, and negative emotions profoundly affect our hearts. Heart disease—the leading cause of death—is not just physical; it is intertwined with our emotional and spiritual well-being.
Getting Deeply Personal
For my family, this has been deeply personal. My husband Chris has faced heart issues that run in his family for decades. I will never forget the night he was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance in the middle of the night. I soon followed, driving the dark, lonely highway to join him, leaving our 9-year-old daughter asleep at home under the care of a friend.
In the cath lab, the teary eyed nurse’s words chilled me: “His widowmaker—it’s 100% blocked.” I’m sure I looked confused. “When that happens, we don’t usually have a patient… we have a widow.”
Somehow, by grace, Chris was saved. Just as our musician friend found solace in the song after his surgery, my husband’s life was spared in the nick of time.
These experiences remind me: it’s our open hearts that create miracles. When we clear the noise and access the divine through our hearts, life becomes not only bearable but beautiful.
I cherish the sacred work of helping others heal and reclaim the wisdom of their hearts. I’ve witnessed the transformations—the energy shifts, the emergence of the soul, the tears, and the profound changes. It’s humbling, holy work available to every one of us.
Today, more than ever, the world needs us to open and heal our hearts. It is through our collective tenderness and courage that we can usher in a future filled with presence, hope, love, and possibility.
Happy Holidays, Blessed Solstice, and deep love to all,
Carrie Ishee ❤️🙏
