Happy Thanksgiving, Erin!
And thank you for this awesome post - it's a great 101 breakdown, and I particularly dig your visualization of the spinning energy, and the Plug-in /Cord /Electrical Socket image is a great insight.
I'm with you on the "if you'd asked me at age 30..." I've found that the more I learn about Spirit, the more I have to be willing to totally revamp my earlier beliefs and as you put it "eat my words."
Tuning the Heart Chakra
One of the chakra-basics I was really clueless about until recently was the importance of the Heart Chakra, and how we try to process - plug in cords from Source - using the wrong socket.
We have a tendency to Process Feelings as Information - emotions are not data.
We acquire Wisdom through the Heart, not the Head. Knowledge and Understanding is not the same thing as Wisdom - experience, with the powerful emotional component, leads to wisdom.
We over-think, get stuck in our Thinking Mind, trying to force the wrong Cord into the wrong Plug.
Wisdom and the Heart are the reason why Stories and Fiction remain so powerful in this age of data and information.
Several months ago, Sonia Choquette shared a great exercise on her radio show for Tuning the Heart Chakra.
The exercise is SO simple, takes only moments to execute, and my personal results from using it are too many to mention here.
Read
my interpretation of How to Tune Your Heart Chakra.