Open Your Heart – Participant Responses

“With utmost respect and sincerity, I cannot thank you enough…for who you are, how you are, and ultimately for how the Open Your Heart Program has contributed to my healing.  Open Your Heart has helped me see that the source of my anxiety is not my partner or the imperfections in our relationship, but the fact that I have become disconnected from my Self.  The course was a reminder that I can choose to love by honoring the amazing man in front of me and celebrating the wonder and gift of our relationship.  More important, I can choose to recognize the beauty of my own soul and reconnect with ways to celebrate myself.

“The course helped me identify the sometimes unconscious things I have been doing to close my heart, and gave me real skills to work on opening it back up.  It was done lovingly, with compassion and gentleness, and with reminders that the only limitation to experiencing my version of a big love story is how my small, fear-based, wounded mind wants to control everything just so she doesn’t have to hurt.  Ironically, this only suffocates my spirit, starves my relationship, and makes me hurt even more.

“Open Your Heart reminded me that the sometimes subtle and soft voice in my head that says “I am not enough” has rather loud repercussions.  I have judged that voice with no compassion, but it only spoke louder.  I thought I could outsmart that voice by ignoring it, but ignoring it only meant I didn’t hear it….not that it wasn’t still there.  The program exposed the fact that it was the voice that was in control, wreaking havoc on my relationship.  So I must tend to my place of not-enough-ness.  When I am enough, my partner is enough.  My relationship is enough.  Acceptance creates change.  Pressure does not.  I am capable of acceptance because I am enough.

“The program gave me many moments of treasured freedom: the freedom associated with feeling light, innocent, certain, awed, expansive, and calm.  I have had more moments of just feeling; feeling deeper, more genuinely, and more compassionately.  It was a gift to experience what happens to my vision of my partner and our relationship when I stop carrying around the heavy weight of control, perfection, insecurity, uncertainty, judgment, doubt, and fear.   It was a gift to take moments of pause just to gaze at my partner from a place of wonder and appreciation: no judgments, no expectations, and no projections.  Those moments made me want to absorb him into my skin and fly into the clouds.  It was a gift to be able to more clearly see how I had been getting in my own way; how when I was reminded to breathe, soften, and approach myself with more kindness and patience that I would relax a bit more and the gate to my heart would naturally open.

“I know this is a journey and not a destination, and so the effort doesn’t end.  Nonetheless, I appreciate that the program has served as my compass, making the path clear.  I know I will stumble on a rock or several along the way, and I might even trip, fall, and hurt myself.  I am okay with that, because I know how to pick myself up and clean the wounds and I am learning to accept that the ground is not always going to be smooth and flat.  There is something about the stumble that is its own gift anyway:  an opportunity to stop and catch a breath, to laugh at myself for being clumsy.  An opportunity to slow down.  Slow.  Down.  When I slow down, I am in the moment.  I am not focused on the destination.  I have let go of attachment and control.  That is where love is.

“Thank you for offering me the chance in the last 30 days to strengthen my love muscles, to smile more, laugh more, dance more, contemplate more, connect more, explore more, uncover more, see more, feel more, heal more, cry more, evolve more, and love more.  We talked a lot about essence.  Well, I can very clearly see yours, feel yours, and celebrate yours….which has helped me see, feel, and celebrate my own and my partner’s.”

–  Rae, Hypoluxo, Florida – May 2013

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“I absolutely loved the content of the program and the way it was organized. The e-mails and the articles they suggested were always insightful, relevant and well-written. I also really enjoyed the meditations in the Loving Yourself week.One thing that really surprised me was how much I loved the online forum. I did not expect to like this format as I tend to prefer human contact but I actually really appreciated the privacy and anonymity of the forum and that it gave each of us a space to discuss anything that mattered to us. It was a very supportive space.I also loved how present Sheryl was. I really felt that she cared for us and was always available to give us attention and answer our questions. Which reminds me that I loved the live calls, especially when Sheryl shared her personal stories (like her poem or when her heart was closed with her husband). Sheryl’s honesty and generosity throughout the course was very nourishing for my soul.”

– Lydia – September 2013***”Before this program I felt our new marriage could definitely benefit from a more comprehensive tools for having ‘relationship tools’ as opposed to dealing with anxiety in relationships – and what we got was an absolute goldmine which both my husband and myself will refer to again and again.

“Transformations occur only through practice and that is what the course reminded me. Before the program I noticed that I was thinking some times in the same patterns (as we all do) as I did before the Weddings E-course. For example, stress from outside sources such as work or negative life events were still affecting the way I saw my partner and I was forgetting some of the important lessons I learned back before we were married about projection. This program reminded me that there are tools to use that can remedy any blockage a couple may face and they start with me.

“Some programs like this promise some kind of miracle transformation – and deliver very little. This program does not promise a superficial ‘miracle’ as such but delivers SO much more: actual tools to help any person become more connected to themselves first and then their partner. Sheryl’s emails and phone conferences contain so much more than you could absorb all at once which makes it more of a program for a lifetime. For anyone who is looking for a relationships course there is no better guide than Sheryl Paul! Her sensitivity and wisdom will be guiding you gently as well as having the support of many other like-minded people to connect to whenever you need to on the forums.”

– Anon, Sydney, Australia – May 2013

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“There was so much I loved about the program. The daily emails were everyday gems, the forum was extremely helpful, and the calls made the program feel even more unified and connected. This program is truly about opening your heart in every which way and discovering your walls. I feel so much more love in my heart because of it. I think the duality of the Conscious Wedding course as well as the Open Heart Program was very helpful for me. I think coming in I had a great foundation. It is a wonderful feeling being vulnerable and more open. The program was very much a spiritual journey for me.”

– Anon, September 2013

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“I joined this program when I was about 2 months away from getting married. It was SO helpful! I wanted a buddy and in my opinion that was a very smart choice. I am now married and still apply the rules I have learned through this program. I am also still in touch with my buddy which is so wonderful. This program is so practical and it helps you understand the ebbs and flows that come with love. I use the very simple technique where I notice if my heart is closed. I now have language to things that happen in a marriage which is a balm for the anxious mind. I highly recommend this program and it is a tool that I will be using for life. I have started a round two of the program and there is always something new that I learn. Thanks to Sheryl for bringing this great material to us all.”

– JK, Palo Alto, CA, September 2013

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Sheryl is an extremely understanding, peaceful and amazing mentor. She is very patient and has opened my eyes to the rich reality of love through the Open Your Heart program. I would unquestionably recommend it to anyone, whether they are in a relationship or not because it is important that people know not to believe everything that the media says about love! Learning to take responsibility of your feelings and love more openly is the most important thing in life, I think Sheryl’s course should be taught in schools!

– Charlott, Lincoln, September 2013

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