The Walls Around Our Hearts
And the Unexpected Ways Life Opens Them Again
Some moments in life arrive without warning.
You’re simply watching a performance… listening to a song… hearing a voice… and suddenly, emotion rises from somewhere deep inside you.
Not planned.
Not logical.
Not something you can explain.
Just… real.
That happened to me recently while watching Jacob Collier perform with Chris Martin from Coldplay.
The audience was singing Fix You together, but it became far more than a song.
Jacob had different sections of the audience harmonizing with one another until the entire arena became a breathtaking experience of unity, emotion, and human connection.
People were crying.
The performers were emotional.
And unexpectedly… so was I.
It caught me completely off guard.
I realized afterward that what I was feeling wasn’t sadness.
It was release.
It felt like something in my heart had softened or opened… even though I hadn’t consciously realized I needed that.
Then, only a day later, I watched another moving performance—a young man from England performing what he called The Magic of Music on Britain’s Got Talent. As the song Believe by Journey played, the audience and judges became visibly emotional.
Even Simon Cowell appeared speechless.
And once again, tears filled my eyes.
At first, I didn’t fully understand why these moments affected me so deeply.
But slowly, clarity came.
I think many of us spend years quietly protecting our hearts.
Not because we are weak.
Not because we are closed off.
But because life teaches us to protect what has been hurt before.
Over time, we build walls.
Sometimes from disappointment.
Sometimes from loss.
Sometimes from responsibility, pressure, burnout, or simply the need to keep moving forward.
And eventually, those walls become so familiar that we no longer even notice they are there.
Until something beautiful breaks through them.
That’s what music did for me.
But perhaps it wasn’t really about the music itself.
Perhaps it was about permission.
Permission to feel.
Permission to soften.
Permission to reconnect with the parts of ourselves we may have unintentionally shut down.
We live in a world that often rewards productivity over presence, logic over sensitivity, and strength over vulnerability.
Yet some of the most transformative moments in life happen when we stop resisting emotion and allow ourselves to experience it fully.
Because emotions are not signs that something is wrong with us.
They are signs that we are alive.
That we still care.
That we can still connect.
That our hearts are still capable of wonder, compassion, empathy, inspiration, and healing.
And maybe that is the real invitation of this season of life.
Not to become harder.
But wiser and softer at the same time.
To stand taller.
Move braver.
Love deeper.
And stop apologizing for feeling deeply.
Especially in our second act.
Because sometimes the very thing we’ve spent years protecting… is also the doorway to the life, purpose, and connection we’ve truly been longing for.
Here are the links to the 2 videos.
The Magic of Music
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1360741515860241
The Magic of Music on Fire
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BQ3QJHMsS/?mibextid=wwXIfr
