Welcome to The Open Heart Chronicles

Say yes to what lights your soul on fire.

Special limitted time offer available at the end.

If I were to boil each of the last three years into one standout concept that defined my development, it would be these three things: a breakup (2021), the passage of the freedom convoy (2022), and increasingly polarizing political discourse (2023). 

Intriguingly, these concepts all share a common heartbeat: they each hold opportunities for profound healing. Extrapolating from these experiences to my broader observations occurring within society right now, I can’t ignore the vast, untapped potential of compassion and love within and around us.

For this reason, I feel compelled to share a chapter of my own journey I haven't spoken about publicly before. It feels imperative to demonstrate how this particular experience, against all likelihood, successfully transformed pain into healing, fostered resilience when faced with the raw edges of life and created a more honest, authentic love than I’ve ever had before. Note: I hope it goes without saying that this is my own shortened recount of complex events and by no means represents the full experience of all parties.

So, let me take you back.

The Breakup:

It's the Winter of 2021. A Friday. A couple of weeks earlier, my partner - let's call him A - and I had designed a custom ring to honor our commitment to each other. We're caught up in the rollercoaster of property bidding wars and dreams of a new home together. 

I'm waiting on the sofa at home, watching the clock as the hours tick by, wondering if I should start dinner, convinced A is going to walk through the door any moment. My stomach grumbles fade as they fill up on knots and anxiety with each passing 15-minute increment. A text comes through: "I'll still be a little while."

Something immediately felt off when his family said they wanted to speak with him, and I knew the visit was taking too long for it to be good. When A arrived in the parking lot of my condo 4 hours later I patiently waited to be filled in on the details - details I couldn't have fathomed would be a reality I'd ever face: a staged intervention prompted by disapproval of the choices we were making for our relationship.

I was naive in thinking that A's family patterns wouldn't trickle into our relationship dynamic, and the lack of awareness left us both unprepared. The following morning, not one to let others' opinions affect my decisions, I broached the subject of our next property bid, unaware it would lead to our unraveling. 

Resolute in proceeding forward, I stood my ground while A retreated and moved out. The jarring and abrupt breakup shattered the illusion of control I thought I had over the life I envisioned. The future I thought I could count on, crumbled. 

I learned much later that nothing I believed about the situation was fully true. My viewpoint was only one side of a much bigger truth: we both felt abandoned in our moments of need and we both had let ourselves down long before we let each other down. What was also true, was the love we had for each other didn't break from our breakup. We just didn't have the skills at that time to navigate the massive curveball that came barreling towards us out of nowhere.

The Transition:

They say you're not supposed to make major life decisions when experiencing grief. Rarely one to follow rules that feel too restrictive, I continued to look at properties to prove I didn’t need a relationship to make my homeownership dreams come true. 

After narrowly missing out on my dream fixer-upper, I successfully got the winning bid on a home chosen entirely by me, in the same city we were supposed to be moving to together. I burst into tears when I received the news from my realtor and on moving day, I cried as I carried boxes in.

I took up tennis and pickleball. I reached out to an acquaintance I was interested in pursuing a friendship with. I was honest and vulnerable in asking for what I needed. I invested in my space and learned how to use power tools.

I was fueled by an irrepressible urge to reclaim my life. My life in this new city was uncharted, but as much as I wasn't sure what the heck I was doing here, I felt the promise of limitless possibility bubble up around me. 

Intention was the name of the game, and I'd be damned if I let complacency take back the reins.

What became abundantly clear as the months went by was that the pandemic had tricked me into shirking my responsibility to self. Like so many, I had outsourced my autonomy, both in my relationship and in my life post-pandemic, out of convenience and the false belief that I couldn't have what I wanted without the support or permission from someone else.

When the convoy made its way across Canada, it felt like this fleet of trucks, spurred on by freedom and fueled by love, was the very thing I needed to step more deeply into my expansion. 

I didn't have the emotional or mental capacity in the months prior to pay more close attention to the massive government failures and division that was making its way through our country like a cancer, but this movement was significant enough to flag my attention at a time when I was ready enough to tumble headfirst into a second breakup. 

Only this time it was metaphysical, and this time, it was with the government and the systems I had spent my lifetime being deluded into believing were designed to serve and protect me.

I don't believe it’s a coincidence that the love and unity demonstrated by the freedom convoy closely followed my own life-shaking experience that also had me keeping love and unity at the forefront.

The Reconciliation:

Reconnecting with A was new territory that required intricate healing. As much love as there was between us, there was also a great deal of hurt. For love to shine through again, the hurt needed to be navigated with deep reverence, patience and empathy. 

Simultaneously, reacquainting needed to be done. We were different versions of ourselves. We had new clarity, new desires, new priorities. We needed to build an entirely new container for our relationship that wasn't predicated on old, wounded patterns.

This new container was unfamiliar. We didn't know when we'd find ourselves bumping up against its edges. And when it began to feel a little too small, together we found divots to build out into spacious new rooms. Unlike our last container, this one was malleable and expansive. It was possible because we were both deeply committed to paving a way forward without any pressure on a particular outcome. Our foundation was based on a new shared understanding that consisted primarily of three things:

• Whatever came our way, our individual needs were to be tended to first so we could best serve the relationship.

• Our individual needs could not be dependent on the relationship, or else the relationship became restricted.

• We were committed to creating space for individual desire. “No” wasn't an option. Reluctant acceptance wasn't an option. “How can we make this possible” became the puzzle which could only be solved by curiosity and radical honesty.

Revelations and Transformation

The healing I went through couldn't have been achieved on my own. Healing requires others to show us new ways of being that reflect unexplored realities and guide us beyond our perceived limits. 

Rooting ourselves in hurt keeps relationships confined within self-protective mechanisms that handcuff others to our wounds. Through our own healing, we invite others to join us on a journey of growth as we learn to delineate ourselves from the wounds of others, and in turn free others caught in our wounds. 

It was through heartache and upheaval that I reconnected to a deep commitment to myself - one I had hidden away in the back corner of a forgotten closet. In reclaiming ownership over myself, I redirected my focus from blame to self-responsibility. 

Fast forward two years to a Christmas gathering. After a slower and less satisfying healing process with A's broader family, my commitment to love, forgiveness, and healing catalyzed unity among other estranged family members. My healing was their healing.

Where does this leave me now?

These last years have exposed so many new layers of self and unveiled awareness of self-imposed restrictions - defenses rooted in fear and principle rather than love and unity. I’ve allowed myself to unfold into unknowing, and consciously choose what serves. 

Even still, I know I haven’t mastered consistent application. I'm acutely aware of some areas where I’m still restricted and have the tendency to dismiss perspectives, businesses, individuals or initiatives hastily. 

In these instances I see opposition as being too married to only one aspect of the truth, and feel the need to counter with the same degree of vindication just to keep the balance. 

And truthfully, sometimes I feel exhausted from trying to mine out what really matters among all the noise and distraction, but for the most part I’m no longer attached to any one of my perspectives. 

I do my best to regularly challenge and counter-challenge what I think because curiosity, growth, and willingness to accept change are fundamental to living from the heart. It's why I created The Dreamers Collection - I know there's other people out there who need an invitation to go deeper into their own hearts too.

Which leads me to this:

So much of my life, long before these last few years, has been about living honestly and truthfully, in integrity, and to what feels deeply aligned. 

The love I've held at the centre of my relationships has guided me through some of the most difficult conversations and choices I've ever had to have. But in doing so, the love that steers my relationships illuminates new ways of relating by challenging conversation and choices. 

Most importantly, it's shown me more of myself - what I'm capable of when I'm truly tested, what I want to seek more of, and what I'm prepared to experience less of.

It seems fitting that my small corner of the internet - where I share long form insights on challenging perspectives in an effort to be free from what’s limiting - be named The Open Heart Chronicles. A space born from a commitment to live honestly and truthfully with the self, while cultivating unconditional love, expression, curiosity, and new possibility.

In holding more space for this, we get to journey together into the depths of liberation that comes from leading with an open heart. When you can do that, you can boldly say yes to what lights your soul on fire.

Comment below if you’re with me.

P.S. - Limited offer: I didn’t have plans to ever offer discounts on my art. And I don’t have plans to do so in the future. But right now, in the spirit of my birthday, the 2 year freedom convoy anniversary, and my growth over these last years, I want to expand the opportunity for more people to accept the invitation to go deeper into their hearts. 

For 3 days only, save 15% on orders above $65. Discount automatically applied at checkout. No tax. Pick up available. Shipping automatically calculated at checkout. Email hello@katerogerscreations.com with questions. Ends Jan 30 at 11:59 ET.

P.P.S. Breaking patterns and facilitating deep healing within is a heck of a lot easier when you have something to ground into every day. This painting is inspired by the freedom that comes in keeping a loose grip and letting go of what doesn’t want to stay. And this painting, is a bold, playful reminder to anchor into your heart every day.

Freedom In Letting Go - 30x48 | Live From The Heart - 36x48