The Attentive Heart

“When your heart is attentive, your entire being enters your prayer without your having to force it,” writes Rebbe Nachman. You notice the quick, wan smile of a friend as she says that everything is fine. You notice that your colleague is absent from a meeting he always looks forward to.

Learn more about the attentive heart, the heart that notices:

When your heart is attentive you notice the presence of the divine everywhere and all the time, in a handshake, or a smile.

The attentive heart is in love with life and all its expressions and, for the most part, doesn’t miss those expressions, no matter how subtle or indirect.

Having an attentive heart is just another name for prayer.

Your heart is attentive, but yearns to be more so. The moments and hours you spend in peaceful quietude are to the heart like moisture and sun to a tree. They transform your heart from the dryness of distraction to the vibrant life of seeing what’s truly there, that is, to attention.

It happens on its own, “without your having to force it.”

Read more: Spirit, Inspiration

Adapted from Moments in Between, by David Kundtz (Conari Press, 2006). Copyright (c) 2006 by David Kundtz Reprinted by permission of Conari Press.
Adapted from Moments in Between, by David Kundtz (Conari Press, 2006).

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Edvanir L.

7:22PM PDT on Apr 30, 2013

I love the text!

April 30
send a green star

Aud N.

12:03AM PDT on Apr 25, 2013

April 25
send a green star

Danuta W.

5:08AM PST on Dec 19, 2012

thanks for the info

December 19
send a green star

Patricia H.

6:50AM PDT on Jul 23, 2012

thanks

July 23
send a green star

Siti R.

3:33AM PST on Feb 8, 2012

it takes a fair bit of practice and being born with an extraordinary amount of sensitive to hone an attentive heart in the midst of a modern and busy lifestyle.