Heart matters gets a makeover
Angela created the newsletter masthead using Canva and Foxee Design editing services.
Heart Matters is the monthly newsletter published by Heartbeat Formation, LLC. I am the spiritual director and creator of Heartbeat Formation, LLC. I share matters of the heart and experiences that form and sharpen our heart’s formation in the newsletter Heart Matters. How the heart thinks; what the heart desires, yearns, and takes; who the heart loves and worships; and why the heart sways and hardens.
I am fascinated with the heart because “The heart is deceitful, hopelessly dark, and devious above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9 NIV, NRSV, MSG). The heart is “a puzzle no one can figure out,” “incurably sick, beyond cure.” Nevertheless, God searches the human heart to examine the mind and get to the root of things—matters of the heart.
The musings of Heart Matters are reflected in poems, prayers, and personal and spiritual narratives, mine or someone else’s. Heart Matters' mission is to awaken heart stirrings that disrupt and provoke the rote ways of being with God and challenge our complacency and comfort. Musings are paired with contemplative practices such as Scriptio-Visio Divina.
In 2024, Heart Matters was created as an email newsletter and companion to my spiritual direction practice, Heartbeat Formation, and its blog. After reflecting on last year’s writing, feedback, subscribers, and comments, I realized that moving forward required increased impact and expansion. What was I willing to do? What was my heart’s desire?
Discernment for next steps
Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash
Discerning the next steps for Heart Matters was like standing at the bottom of a staircase, deciding whether to climb or stay where I am. When it comes to discernment, I turn to Ignatius of Loyola's election process, as illustrated throughout his Spiritual Diary and Spiritual Exercises.
Pray for God’s Spirit to assist me in reasoning and give me clarity of mind: What must I do? Write a list of pros and cons. What are the disadvantages and advantages? Take no sides.
Pray for confirmation. Pay attention to moments of desolation and consolation. When clarity and inspiration equal confusion and worry, you become uncertain about where your inquiry is going. For instance, Substack seemed the best option. A writer on Medium discussed how layering content between social media platforms increases subscribers. I was timidly doing that, posting blogs on my FB page, Linked In (best response), Medium, and my website. Clearly, I was lumbering up the stairs to increase and expand the newsletter. Worry set in. I would be cluttering digital space. Did I have enough to say? Who would read? Hasn’t it all been said before? Paid subscription on Substack. Was that really a thing? I signed up for Substack in November, yet I was uncertain. Poetry Culture was kind, writing, “I can’t wait to read your first post.” Two people I went to seminary with followed me on Substack. Still, my heart was restless. I was uncertain, yet discernment was clear. (For me, discernment was clear after at least 60 days.)
Understand the nature of the crisis. Doubt and fear cause me to feel uncertain and discount my calling to divine contemplative writing. In 2013, I maintained a WordPress blog called angchronicles and then Off The Hooks. All the writing focused on heart matters. When I look back, each time I stopped writing, I had climbed a few more steps yet stopped for various reasons.
After clarity, there is confidence and peace that Heart Matters is written for the tablets of the heart that reflect the love of God, self, and others
What’s next for Heart Matters?
The email newsletter design has a new format to give it a fresh look and engage readers. The format loosely offers and invites each reader to a contemplative practice that can be folded into their work rest rhythm, a new way of learning and unlearning being in the presence of God, sitting and examining the self, and listening and not judging others. Heart matters. You may need a resource to deepen your practice, take you to another level, or read for fun.
First, there is a masthead to brand the newsletter. (Hope you like it. I do. ) Instead of “In This Issue,” that section is titled “Offerings and Invitations.” If all anchors work well, you can click through the newsletter rather than scroll.
For the first few issues, Heart Worship will feature Yoni Charis on YouTube’s Christian lo-fi mix, which is great for studying, meditating, praying, relaxing, and relieving stress and anxiety. While planning the content for the 2025 newsletters, I listened to the lo-fi videos. Lo-Fi is without studio-quality sound. They are raw and embrace imperfections. Doesn’t that sound like a new practice for the new year? Let’s embrace our imperfections. Celebrate our flaws. Refuse to compare ourselves to others. And whatever it takes for us to practice embracing our imperfections. ( I am now aware of being a four on Enneagram, which means one of my characteristics is self-absorbed. I didn’t see that coming. I’ll write about that soon, maybe. But that’s an imperfection that I’m embracing.)
Yoni Charis on YouTube animation offers images of relaxation that completely remind us to slow down, stop rushing, and take a pause. Breathe deeply. Dear readers, this is good for us in the new year. Here’s one of my favorites. Click and listen while you read.
I’m pairing Visio Divina with Scriptio Divina as one of those contemplative practices for reflection, slowing down, being still, listening to the holy, sacred seeing, and responding with divine writing.
One more thing: Heart Matters will also include audiovisuals featuring me guiding a contemplative practice, lo-fi. Recording an audio-visual is as scary as jumping out of a plane. I did that to celebrate my sixtieth revolution around the sun in November.
Angela is skydiving in San Diego over the ocean with Go Jump America.
Each email newsletter will include Upcoming Events hosted by Heartbeat Formation, LLC and its partners. The Useful Links section remains as a resource. Please note that if you’d like to be added to this section, just email me. And, of course, if I stumble upon your information, I will send you an email requesting permission to add you to Useful Links.
Heart Matters concludes with “Heart Prayers/Blessings, " which offers a quote for prayer, blessing, meditation, devotion, or wisdom. I aim to give the reader a word of encouragement, an expression of good wishes, or a petition for guidance to recap the newsletter theme, similar to a benediction to close the worship experience. Benediction is the Latin form for the word “blessing,” which means “to say —dicere —good things —bene.” I hope those who read Heart Matters will receive something they need to form, sharpen, shape, soften, and open their hearts to a deeper, loving, kinder being.
Thanks for reading.
Your heart matters,
Angela
