As a follow-up to my last post about working from heart as well as head, I’ve been blessed to see role models in action. I recently attended a party where the host works completely from the heart, in the business world. His emphasis on the quality of his relationships, his gratefulness of what is right in front of him, and his eagerness to serve others speak to his open heart.

And that attracts others with an open heart. The place was teeming with genuinely nice people–over a hundred of them, most who I had never met–at an open house on a idyllic summer evening. I talked with a former client of the host, a friend he had made in the airport waiting for a flight, colleagues from work, related spouses and kids, and family members. They all served to create a loving environment, without a spot of cynicism or sarcasm.

The kicker was when the host and hostess gathered everyone into the living room, to thank everyone for coming and to play music, a passion they shared. The wife played a song she had composed on the piano, a melodic tune in the tradition of George Winston or Michael Jones. That was followed by a song sung by their teenage daughter, whose young voice and doe-like eyes spoke to the innocence of youth. A few more songs and I found myself overflowing with emotion, tears running down my face. My heart had been primed over the previous couple of hours and now, music cracked me open even further.

I could barely contain myself when the host and hostess sang Iz’s rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, complete with mandolin accompaniment. This is the song that my friend, Ilene, chose for the intro to our podcast, Conscious Living, Conscious Leaving. With Ilene’s birthday right around the corner, she was on my mind. The song reminded me of how much I miss her. (She died of ALS in October 2006.)

I left the party shortly after, moved by the experience of being bathed in the energy of fully open hearts–my own and those around me. Talking to the host a few days later, he  thanked me for attending the party, not in a superficial manner, but in a sincere way that can only be heard in the tenor of one’s voice. I told him that I was the lucky one, the recipient of a profound experience.

Profound is a good word to capture what can happen when we work with heart. It’s a reminder that it is possible to experience the sacred at any moment.