Jenna Caplette migrated from California to Montana in the early 1970s, first living on the Crow Indian reservation, then moving to Bozeman where she owned a downtown retail anchor for eighteen years. These days she owns Bozeman BodyTalk & Energetic Healthcare, hosts a monthly movie night, teaches and writes about many topics. 

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Who knew there was such an active sub-culture of workshops every weekend, all over Montana? When I owned a retail business I spent many years oblivious.

This last weekend my daughter and I participated in a Family Constellation workshop in Missoula. As I noted comments made by the workshop facilitator, Brigitte Sztab, I thought, perhaps there is a poem here...

 Let life be easy for just the moment.

Even though there’s hardship,

there’s strength and grounding.

There’s nothing to do, just be open.

There’s nothing to control, just be.

Perception is powerful in shaping reality.

Find the sentence that sparks the truth that is buried in your heart.

That’s what to look for, to change what is in the heart.

When your heart is closed it’s dead to all feelings,

not just the ones you don’t want.

When your heart is closed you have to do it for yourself,

an American virtue.

Now you know where that comes from.

You are the center of your own universe,

but you are not the center of THE universe.

If you think of feelings as information,

they can be expansive or contractive.

If you don’t name them as this or that,

then you won’t get in to story.

Just notice: expansive or contractive?

The language of the soul has no words -- words just point to something.

When we try to understand, the mind can’t grasp it.

It’s something that we can’t comprehend,

that we can know everything

without knowing.

It requires you to get comfortable

with not knowing.

Some things can remain mystery

and that’s fine too,

though when you remain open,

there’s always a bit of insight.

It’s fun not knowing, a lot less stressful.

You have to stop and get really still

to let something emerge.

The mind has to become still.

And you have to go in to the heart.

Something shows up.

It always does.

You have to forgive yourself if you doubt.

The more you do it, the more it works.

A different sort of life is possible.

How much of our feelings do we think,

how much do we actually experience?

When I talk about opening the heart,

I’m talking about experience.

We walk that path together,

from mind-based living to heart-centered living.

We start by just wanting to drop the baggage

and discover a whole new way of being.

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