When my son practiced as a chiropractor, he had a big bowl of wooden coins that he handed out to his patients. On one side of the coin was written love; on the other fear. The hope was that his patients would carry this coin in their pockets and remember that love or fear was a moment to moment choice.
Fear, my son felt, was the cause of a lot of disease and discomfort in the body. To actually feel the full vitality of health, one had to practice love. But love is a hard practice, one that must be continuously cultivated. In a society as hurried and stimulated as ours, it almost seems unnatural to soften the belly for a deep, full, relaxed breath and to open the heart to uncertainty.
Like food in a freezer, the heart must be taken out of its protection and laid out to slowly thaw. It is a vulnerable and malleable position, but the only one worth cultivating.
Love or fear, perhaps our whole spiritual journey comes down to this moment to moment choice to freeze our hearts in protection or take them out to thaw.