The Heart-Shaped Rock

During summer 2013, my friend m!nx!e from the Midwest trekked to Sedona with her sister. For my birthday that September, m!nx!e created a travel brochure just for me that artfully pictured Sedona landscapes and chronicled their adventures there.
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​I was intrigued by the way m!nx!e described their hike in Boynton Canyon vortex, during which a kindhearted hiker appeared out of nowhere and gave them heart-shaped rocks. "He told us that we take the energy back with us and that it will always be with us," m!nx!e wrote, explaining the concept of Sedona’s potent vortex energy.

Enclosed with the brochure she created for me, m!nx!e gifted me with a red rock she picked up during her hike in Boynton Canyon. She'd taken the stone home and asked her husband stuART to whittle it into a heart shape for me. For several months, that rock sat vibrating on my desk as I wrestled with the vicissitudes of life in America's capital city. All the while, I was clueless about the rock's energy and spiritual significance.

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During that six months, a series of events compelled me to move to Sedona. When I announced that intent, m!nxie told me, "I hoped the positive energy I sent in the form of the rock would take root for you while you were still on Capitol Hill. But I guess you do have to open yourself to it. And maybe the energy just isn’t transferable. Or maybe you just had to journey through all that other stuff first." 

In retrospect, if "all that other stuff" hadn't happened, I probably would not have opened my mind to other possibilities elsewhere. And as the details of my relocation fell magically in place, the heart-shaped stone played a mystical part.  ​

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Five years have passed since m!nx!e picked up that rock for me in Sedona's Boynton Canyon, where I frequently hiked while living in Sedona. Since then, I've relocated several times and currently reside in the southern foothills of Tucson's Santa Catalina Mountains. In May 2018, I took a road trip to Sedona and hiked again in Boynton Canyon, where my paths crossed with m!nxie's kindhearted hiker. His name is Robert Sechrengost and he is actually a bit of a celebrity in Sedona. (I previously met Robert when I lived there.) Since 2010, Robert (born in 1952) has been handing out his heart-shaped rocks to hikers and playing his Native American flute atop Sedona's red rock vortex spires. 

As I reached Boynton Canyon Vista trailhead, I could hear Robert playing his flute. When I reached the summit, I found a safe perch on the rocky ledge, cradled within the exposed, brawny roots of a twisted Juniper tree. I watched in awe as Robert balanced cross-legged atop the rock formation known as "Kachina Woman" and played his melodious flute tunes.  Later, Robert scrambled down from the formation and gifted me with a heart rock that, as he explains it, "embodies the energy of the vortex and represent unconditional love."

Yet again, I find joy and inspiration from these heart-shaped "milestones" that likewise inspired Happiness on the Rocks.

❤ v!ctor!a colette ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀

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