--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is only through letting our heart…" description: "\"It is only through letting our heart break that we discover something unexpected: the heart cannot actually break, it can only break open. When we feel..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f9e/john-welwood-16872_break_it-is-only-through-letting-our-heart-bre_2691555.png" --- # It is only through letting our heart break that we… ![“It is only through letting our heart break that we discover something unexpected: the heart cannot actually break, it can only break open. When we feel both our love for this world and the pain of this world-together, at the same time-the heart breaks out of its shell. To live with an open heart…” quote by John Welwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f9e/john-welwood-16872_break_it-is-only-through-letting-our-heart-bre_2691555.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f9e/john-welwood-16872_break_it-is-only-through-letting-our-heart-bre_2691555.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f9e/john-welwood-16872_break_it-is-only-through-letting-our-heart-bre_2691555.png) > “It is only through letting our heart break that we discover something unexpected: the heart cannot actually break, it can only break open. When we feel both our love for this world and the pain of this world-together, at the same time-the heart breaks out of its shell. To live with an open heart is to experience life full-strength.” [John Welwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-welwood/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Heartbreak opens the heart, allowing deeper love and resilience. **In simple terms:** Heartbreak opens you. Key Takeaway Embrace vulnerability. Themes growth love resilience Mood hopeful reflective Type spiritual inspirational When to use this quote - therapy - personal reflection Key Concepts emotional openness spiritual development Questions to Reflect On - What does openness mean to you? - How can you stay open after hurt? A Different Perspective Pain can become overwhelming. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Break](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/break/) [Break out](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/break-out/) [Experience Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experience-life/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Heart break](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart-break/) [Heart breaks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart-breaks/) [Joy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/joy/) [Letting Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/letting-heart-662764/) [Open heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/open-heart/) [Our love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/our-love/) [Pain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pain/) [Shells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shells/) [Something unexpected](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/something-unexpected/) [This world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/this-world/) [Together](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/together/) [Unexpected](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unexpected/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Sometimes change is what's best, letting your heart break, and learning how to cope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/sometimes-change-is-what-s-best-letting-your-heart-break-and-learning/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [God is with the broken-hearted. 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In fact, your heart is made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-harvey/if-you-re-really-listening-if-you-re-awake-to-the-poignant-beauty-of/) [Andrew Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-harvey/) > [The heart breaks and breaks and lives by breaking it is necessary to go through dark and deeper dark and not to turn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/the-heart-breaks-and-breaks-and-lives-by-breaking-it-is-necessary-to/) [Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/) > [There is so much to life; my heart breaks watching someone held captive by addiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-love/there-is-so-much-to-life-my-heart-breaks-watching-someone-held/) [Mike Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-love/) > [Years go, dreams go, and youth goes too, The world's heart breaks beneath its wars,All things are changed, save in the east,The faithful beauty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-teasdale/years-go-dreams-go-and-youth-goes-too-the-world-s-heart-breaks/) [Sara Teasdale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-teasdale/) > [I don't understand why I'm not dead. 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Though love may inspire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-welwood/great-love-the-kind-that-illumines-and-transforms-us-always-includes/) [John Welwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-welwood/) > [The warm and radiant yes of the heart is perfect, like the sun, in bringing all things to life and nourishing all that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-welwood/the-warm-and-radiant-yes-of-the-heart-is-perfect-like-the-sun-in/) [John Welwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-welwood/) > [A relationship that has any depth and power at all will inevitably penetrate our usual shield of defenses, exposing our most tender and sensitive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-welwood/a-relationship-that-has-any-depth-and-power-at-all-will-inevitably/) [John Welwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-welwood/) > [In recognizing exactly where we have been unconscious, we become more conscious. And in seeing and feeling the ways we've gone dead, we start…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-welwood/in-recognizing-exactly-where-we-have-been-unconscious-we-become-more/) [John Welwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-welwood/) [Explore all 38 John Welwood quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-welwood/) ## More Break quotes > [I made, like, five movies while I was in college. I think they just weren't memorable movies. 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No one can break your heart except you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabrielle-zevin/he-didn-t-break-my-heart-no-one-can-break-your-heart-except-you/) [Gabrielle Zevin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabrielle-zevin/) > [“She couldn't break the orbit.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-schwab/she-couldn-t-break-the-orbit/) [Victoria Schwab](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-schwab/) > [Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khalil-gibran/your-pain-is-the-breaking-of-the-shell-that-encloses-your/) [Khalil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khalil-gibran/) > [Must I go bound while you go free Must I love a manwho doesn't love me Must I be born with so little art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/must-i-go-bound-while-you-go-free-must-i-love-a-manwho-doesn-t-love/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [I hadn't worked for a year when I had my Prison Break audition and it was the easiest audition I've ever had. I got…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wentworth-miller/i-hadn-t-worked-for-a-year-when-i-had-my-prison-break-audition-and-it/) [Wentworth Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wentworth-miller/) > [If you strike upon a thought that baffles you, break off from that entanglement and try another, so shall your wits be fresh to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristophanes/if-you-strike-upon-a-thought-that-baffles-you-break-off-from-that/) [Aristophanes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristophanes/) > [“A hole ain’t nothing either, but you can still break your neck in it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-donati/a-hole-ain-t-nothing-either-but-you-can-still-break-your-neck-in-it/) [Sara Donati](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-donati/) > [“I break things, a lot of things, but I don’t want one of them to be you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-briggs/i-break-things-a-lot-of-things-but-i-don-t-want-one-of-them-to-be-you/) [Patricia Briggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-briggs/) > [Motor racing's less of a sport these days than a commercial break doing 150 mph.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-dunne/motor-racing-s-less-of-a-sport-these-days-than-a-commercial-break/) [Peter Dunne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-dunne/) > [Much like teaching art to young art students age 10 to 15 or so on, you have to break it down into bite-sized pieces,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/much-like-teaching-art-to-young-art-students-age-10-to-15-or-so-on/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [The purpose is to be in gratitude forever. 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