Heart Stones

Heart stones

So an amazing thing has been happening since I moved in to my place on May 14th. I have been finding heart shaped rocks in so many places. In the 8 weeks since I have been here, there have been at least 14 instances of where I look down and notice these incredible heart shaped rocks. On runs, on hikes, on walks around the block. Some of them look more like hearts than others, and none of them are perfect like those we've all cut from pieces of paper.  But sure enough, despite their jagged edges and lopsided forms, they look like hearts.

Now, to be perfectly honest, I can't take total credit for this. My former spouse introduced me to the practice of finding these stones years ago. She, or I, would find one and bring it home. Sometimes we would find one on a hike we were taking together and pass it on to the other. I found some and made a nice little pile of them on my window sill at work. There are others that have been sitting in the cup holders of my car.

After a while there were multiple piles of them everywhere in our lives. Every now and then I would pick one up as I walked by and feel it's shape. Feel it's roughness or smoothness. Feel it's curves. I would take the time to realize the connection between me and the earth that the stone represented. And then I would place it on the pile again, and continue with my day. To me these stones have come to represent the energy that flows through us and through the earth. Energy that is love represented in this simple, imperfect heart shaped rock. My former spouse introduced the idea of heart shaped rocks to me and I have been grateful for her doing that ever since. Through the years I have been able to connect to them in a personal way.

And then the tough times started and I lost touch with these stones as I also lost touch with myself. For those of you who have read my previous posts, you know some very difficult things have happened in my life over the last year and I've been preoccupied. Occasionally I would find heart stones laying on the ground but to be honest I was walking around with a bitter heart. I lost touch with how I used to pause and connect with the earth energy that these stones represent.  At the time my walks consisted of me venting, of figuring things out, wondering what I was going write about in my next blog post. I was not really open to what Mother Earth was saying.

And then I moved into my new place and it started happening again. Whereas before I would find a heart shaped rock ever few months, I started finding them everywhere. On paths, in parking lots, on the shoulders of the road, in piles of landscaping rocks. I shared this phenomenon with a friend who responded by saying "My wife would say that you are on the right path."

I mention to another friend about how Mother Earth must be telling me something and she texted back "Mothers are wise and they know how to protect their young". I may not be young,  but in terms of Mother Earth years, I am but a newborn pup. What a great image to carry with me as I continue to walk on this journey. I am grateful that I have her looking out for me.