Fire in the Belly, Love in the Heart
"Wisdom Within" Series—Article #6
You have probably experienced it before. That moment when the fire in your belly and the love in your heart suddenly converge, breaking through the floodgates of your soul, and your truth comes pouring out. That moment when being silent is no longer an option. When speaking your truth feels like now or never. A fiery passion raging in your solar plexus for what, at least in that moment, matters to you more than anything else. Your heart is pounding in your chest. A moment of breakthrough has come. Fire in the belly, love in the heart.
When these two forces converge, nothing can stop you. You feel incredibly alive and maybe terrified, yet you keep going anyway because the energy coursing through you is so much bigger than you. It will not be shut down.
Maybe it’s a moment when you realize you can no longer hide—a moment when you know the truth of who you are and what you must bring to the world now in every fiber of your being. Or maybe a situation is unfolding in a way that is against everything you believe in—against who you are. It’s so out of integrity with your soul, or the soul of humanity, or the soul of the Earth, that you cannot be silent. You must stand up.
The Synergy Between the Solar Plexus and the Heart
In the last week, I’ve written about living in integrity and being in right relationship with the world around you. Integrity and right relationship are related to the solar plexus and heart chakras, respectively. Although much has been written and taught about the chakra system through yoga or meditation books and classes, the synergy between the solar plexus and heart is rarely explored. Yet it’s this synergy that sparks the convergence of the fire in your belly and the love in your heart.
The solar plexus chakra is the seat of our personal power and will. It’s where we first start to know who we are and how we fit into the world. As we grow and evolve in solar plexus awareness, we become more anchored in the truth of our being. We know what matters to us—what is more important to us than anything else. It’s where passion and purpose come together. As our passion for what matters intensifies, so does the fire in our belly. And that’s the fire that fuels our courage and strength to stand in our truth.
The heart chakra is generally known as the center of love in our being. Yet there’s so much more to it. According to research at the HeartMath Institute, the electromagnetic field of the heart is 60 times greater than the electromagnetic field of the brain or intellect. Through the heart, we can access a much bigger picture of life than only through the intellect. Which means we get a greater understanding of why something is so important to us, why we care so much. The fire of the solar plexus raises the temperature and intensity of the love in our hearts. At the same time, the love in our heart feeds oxygen to the fire in the solar plexus. The resulting synergy emboldens action. Without this synergy between the solar plexus and the heart, our words and actions lack the dynamic power needed to make real impact.
Too often, we look at love and power as conflicting ideas. However, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to the necessity of the synergy between them:
Personal power, properly understood, is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. There is nothing wrong with power if used correctly. One of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites—polar opposites—so that love is identified with resignation of power, and power with denial of love. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.
—Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
If we only think of the solar plexus chakra as primarily ego-based (power) and the heart chakra soul-based (love), we are missing out on the synergy that happens in the inter-relationship and interaction between all the chakras—between all the parts of our being. As the heart-soul awareness embraces and supports the ego to grow and mature into its greatest potential, the ego feels supported and nurtured. As the ego matures and fully claims what it’s really good at, it can choose to use its gifts and talents in service of living the truth of the soul. And then ego and soul come together in unstoppable partnership—a partnership committed to making a difference towards something bigger than itself. This synergetic partnership is what propels us forward as we stand up for what we believe—for what truly matters. Fire in the belly, love in the heart.
In that moment of convergence, something inside you that has been restrained or held back breaks open. The love in your heart overpowers the fear, doubt, or resistance that has kept your authentic power and strength under wraps. This is exactly what Caribbean-American poet and activist Audre Lorde was talking about when she wrote:
When I dare to be powerful—
to use my strength in the service of my vision—
then it becomes less and less important
whether I am afraid.—Audre Lorde
Taking her words even a step further, I paraphrase:
When I dare to live the truth of who I am—
to use my strength in the service of that truth—
then it becomes less and less important
whether I am afraid.—Paraphrase of Audre Lorde quote
While fear might have held you back in the past, in those moments of solar plexus-heart convergence, the fear no longer matters. It’s no longer about fear. It’s about integrity and love and truth. Something in your spirit breaks free. Some part of you is suddenly alive as never before. And if you remain committed to what has just broken open, the chances are good that you will never go back to where you were before.
Being Responsive Instead of Reactive
In the power of this synergetic moment, an important question emerges: How can you be sure that these moments are responsive rather than reactive? How can you trust that you are truly being present with what is unfolding and being clear in your response rather than reacting with words or actions you may regret later?
I can only speak about how this distinction becomes clear for me. When I am in reaction, I am more likely to act without awareness and without consideration of consequences. I am in motion before I realize what I am doing. I have no conscious awareness of choice.
However, being in response feels different. Even though things may be moving fast and furious on the outside, I become very still inside. In my inner awareness, everything slows down. Sometimes, in an eerie kind of way, what is happening in the space around me seems to shift into slow motion as well. Images of various possible outcomes flash in my awareness and I sense how each possibility might feel. Almost instantaneously, my next step becomes crystal clear. I realize there is a wave of energy—of what wants to happen—that will guide and carry me if I trust it.
There have only been a few of these “truth” moments in my life. Yet each time, there was a breaking open in me. I learned something important about myself and how life works. And I grew in awareness and presence. At the same time, something broke open in the situation and within others involved as well.
I won’t say that these moments are without stress. Yet I’ve learned that if I listen, sense, and feel into the truth, authenticity, and integrity both within me and within the situation, the moment of action is not hard. Something bigger than me takes over and carries both me and the unfolding situation. Fire in the belly, love in the heart.
Going Where We Haven’t Gone Before
In these uncertain times, we are all called upon to go where we haven’t gone before—to stand up for what matters for our own lives, our families, our communities, our countries, our world. Again, wisdom in words of Martin Luther King:
Our lives begin to end the day we become
silent about things that matter.—Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
And from the Gospel of Thomas:
If you bring forth what is within you,
what you bring forth will save you.If you do not bring forth what is within you,
what you do not bring forth will destroy you.—The Gospel of Thomas
If we bring forth the higher truth of our being in service of a greater good, it can save us. If we do not, our lives begin to end the day we stop bringing it forth. Fire in our belly, love in our hearts.
Articles in the “Wisdom Within” series
Tapping Into the Wisdom Within
Standing on Common Ground
The Mystery of Connection
Living In Integrity
Being in Right Relationship
Fire in the Belly, Love in the Heart
The Truth of the Matter
The Power of Vision
Wisdom Greater than Our Own
I waited to read this until I knew I would need it – at just such a moment of heart/solar plexus convergence. Thanks, Alan, this is so helpful and affirming!