What Enters through the Open Heart is a collection of poems about what feels fragile, fleeting, and ephemeral in life. Both a poet and a spirituality author with a worldwide reputation, Paintner writes about her experience of chronic illness, grief, loss, nature's consolation, and she brings to life some of the saints who had kinship with creatures and experienced illness as well. Ultimately, it is a collection about what it means to live with an open heart in the midst of pain and vulnerability.