My Heart Knows What it Needs

This is another in my series of prayers and meditations for men. With a single tweak it could become gender neutral. That’s not my intent. I speak here to other men about my needs as a man, inviting them to take the risk that our society suppresses, opening our hearts to each other by expressing deep, abiding, brotherly love.

My Heart Knows What it Needs
A quiet place.
A calm, gentle space.
Stillness.
Peace.
My heart knows
What it needs.
To speak freely,
Honestly,
Openly to you my brother.
And to itself.
Safety. Acceptance. Strength.
A moment,
Just a moment
To loose the chains of
Anger and fear,
Guilt and shame,
And open the gates
Of love and surrender.

Come,
Adventure into the night of a thousand stars,
The day of radiant light.
They shine from heart to heart,
Beyond our sight,
Beyond the length of our days.

My heart knows what it needs.
To be heard.
Welcomed.
Accepted.
Protected.
To be given its voice,
And to return its power.
To be nourished.
To be healed.
To be whole.

© 2010 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Check out these prayers for men: “My Work Remains” and “For the Lost,” as well as a list of other prayers for and about men.

Please use these prayers. See “Share the Prayer!” in the right hand column. 

For notices of new prayers posted here, please subscribe. To read four to six mini-prayers each week, as well as notices of new prayers posted to the site, please join the To Bend Light fan page on Facebook.

Tags: , , , , ,

“Alden has become one of Reform Judaism’s master poet-liturgists…" - Religion News Service, Dec. 23, 2020

“Mesmerizing, spiritual, provocative, and thoughtful, Alden was everything you would want in a guest scholar and teacher.” – Rabbi Denise L. Eger, Congregation Kol Ami, Los Angeles, and Past President, CCAR

"Alden Solovy has become one of the most revered liturgists of the last decade…" - Jewish Post & Opinion, March 29, 2023

“Alden left everyone feeling inspired.” – Cantor Jeri Robins, Shabbat Chair, NewCAJE6