A brief note on "guarded" hearts

We tend to justify locking away our hearts by saying that we don't want someone else to come along and hurt them again. But sometimes, the real reason is that we do not trust ourselves not to put our hearts in positions where they will be hurt. Other times, we fear that our hearts themselves will lead us directly into pain, and caging them is punishment for perceived betrayal, past, present, or projected. For many of us, the soul-work we need the most involves forgiving, trusting, and loving our own hearts, and releasing them to do what they are meant to - love. It has much less to do with others than we sometimes think.