In the world of boxing, a fighter is said to have ‘heart’ when he or she shows remarkable endurance or resilience. One of my favorite stories about heart is the 1984 film The Karate Kid. The main character Daniel LaRusso is a bullied teen who realizes he can no longer run but must either face a merciless challenge or forever live with the loss of self-respect; it is a story about a rite of passage. As the film follows Daniel’s journey, we see him display tremendous heart which in the end equates to him believing in himself. Confidence.

The word confidence comes from the Latin confidentem meaning "firmly trusting, bold,", "to have full trust or reliance". In astrology the Sun is associated with the quality of confidence, the sign of Leo is ruled by the Sun. The word Leo is Latin, meaning Lion. In the Hebrew mystery system of Kabbalah, the 6th sefira on the Tree Of Life corresponds to the Sun and is further associated with images or symbols like gold, kings, the lion (who is the king of beasts), the halo or the crown, blinding light or blinding beauty, and glory.

I want to touch on a couple concepts that are associated with the Sun and how they relate to the concept of resilience, determination, and willpower or what the sports world calls heart.

The King

The Sun is associated with kings, that is divine leadership and authority. The Sun is the emblem of God and so too a king is emblematic of the highest potentialities of his kingdom. The word king is thrown around quite a bit these days, but we should know that being a king is not about being boss because a king takes on great responsibility. The king must represent the highest potential of the kingdom. Think about our kings of hip hop, these are all people who were crowned kings by the people as they represented the highest forms, manifestations, and possibilities of that particular artform and culture. The king embodies the aspirations of his people, and he must represent that in truth. If at any time he fails to represent that or no longer represents that, he is then no longer king. Our brother Blue Pillar 44 shared with us that the king is the highest servant. I say whenever you use your gifts and your energy to champion for the betterment and upliftment of your family, friends, community, or others in general, or even to serve mankind, to make the world a better place you then truly step into the role of a king.

Heart

The Sun corresponds to the 'heart' both literally and figuratively. The physical heart is constantly working, pumping about 2,000 gallons of blood every day of your life. The physical heart 'goes the distance', more so than any other muscle in the body as it is never truly at rest; this reflects the enduring quality of its spiritual governor the Sun. Our physical yellow Sun also goes the distance, it has enough fuel to produce light and heat for billions of years. Compared to a single human lifetime the Sun has enough to go on for eternity.

One reason the Sun, which is the heart of our solar system, is associated with confidence and willpower is because the Sun is true to what the Sun does. It is never retrograde, it is never turned back, never turned around, never disturbed, or perturbed by any other body in the solar system. The process of fusion occurring at the core of the Sun has been going for billions of years and it will continue to go for billions more, no matter what.

We are human beings, we are more complex, life can get complicated but we all have an inner Sun, we all have a true nature and true aspiration in our heart. There is a part of us that knows what to do, where to go, and why we're here. This is why it’s often said, listen to your heart.

There is a part of us that knows what to do, where to go, and why we're here, thus the adage ‘listen to your heart’.

One final word about heart and that is the Sun represents the ‘I Am’. When you show up for what you want, when you show up for your dreams you’re saying ‘I am’. We love the boxing champion because he or she represents the heart or the Sun in action, that is stepping up, rising to the occasion and taking on the challenge thus saying ‘I am’. The boxer represent a process that we all secretly know we must experience in order to know true self-respect and self-actualization.

If we let the world push us down and push us back, we say I am, and the world says no you are not, if we accept that we will experience something far worse than physical death. Shakespeare wrote “a coward dies a thousand deaths”. People sometimes say "it's not all about winning", and I can agree with that in the sense that we recognize the true win, which is showing up to stand up for yourself. When you show up for self, that’s already your first win; showing up to meet the challenge, showing up to be tested on who you say you are and what you say you want. Showing up to say I am.