The energy center you know most about opening and closing is the heart. Have you ever been in love and you feel as though your heart is bursting? This is because the positive energy you experience from that emotion causes you to be open to receive more of it. Have you ever been disappointed and your heart feels heavy and hurt? To protect your self from the pain (the negative energy you are experiencing), you close the channel to that energy.

Positive energy opens your flow of energy ' negative energy closes that flow. It's that simple. The question to ask is, "How much do I want to experience of love, enthusiasm, and feeling happy?" To experience these, you must keep your energy channels open.

Keep in mind that your heart is not what is closed. The same is true for other energy centers in your body. They might feel constricted and shut down. However, what you are feeling is a response to what is happening in your external world. What is really closed is your mind, and the story it creates with its thoughts keeps it closed.

You can make being open a habit, just as much as you have made closing a habit. Once you understand how the mind works, you will see that you have a choice; you can decide what happens.

Unfortunately, most people base their current choices on past experiences. If a similar situation was a bad experience, the mind closes and the energy stops. If it was good, the mind stays open and the energy channels flow.

Have you ever spent a summer night with the window open, the night full of the sound of crickets chirping? How you feel when you think of sleeping with the window open again depends on whether the breeze you experienced was comfortable and the sounds lulled you to sleep, or if the temperature was stiflingly hot and the crickets drove you crazy and distracted you from sleeping comfortably through the night. Your mind is controlling your response based on your past impressions. When you begin to be aware of your responses to your experiences, you will begin to see how mind affects your energy.

Having that open energy flow may feel strange at first because you might not have had a lot of practice at it. You might be comfortable with protecting your energy centers. But choosing to stay closed doesn't really protect you. It cuts you off from your most important source of knowing, the brilliant inner energy of your soul. That shield you put up works both ways. It might seem to be keeping you safe, but what it truly does is isolate you and keep you from accessing your own light, the inner energy that is necessary to bring what you desire into your life. The only way to truly be safe is to fill yourself with positive energy.