Listening to Your Heart

We often confuse our head with our heart. Our head, or our mind, has all kinds of reasons for doing something or not doing something, for making certain choices, for being rational. We can convince ourselves of a lot of things using logic, because it makes sense to us, even though we often have a strong internal feeling that goes against all logic.

Our heart is something else entirely. Our heart knows without reason. It’s our intuition, our gut reaction, our inner knowing that always steers us in the right direction…when we pay attention to it.

In our society, we most often rely on knowledge and information to make decisions.

We get all the facts, weigh our options, and make the ‘best’ choices based on the data we’ve gathered. And it certainly makes sense to do research when you need certain pieces of information to make a more informed choice, for example.

However, we tend to discount other forms of input in the choices we make in our life.

The deep longing you feel to make a difference in the world comes from your heart, not your head.

Your secret desire to open a bed-and-breakfast because you absolutely love creating and sharing a wonderful environment for your guests comes from your heart.

The way you know that purchasing that particular house just isn’t a good idea, even though everything looks great on paper – that comes from your heart, too.

Your heart is giving you information all day long…about what you really want, about what lights you up, and about who you really are.

So how do you learn to really listen to your heart, especially when you’re out of practice?

Start by paying attention. Slow down and ask yourself what you really WANT. And then trust the answers that show up.

Take some time to get to know yourself better this month. Listen to your heart rather than your head. Slow down, ask, and listen for the response.

You’re building a muscle that you may not have used much lately…most of us are in our heads all day long!

Start making small decisions using your heart. When choosing a restaurant or a movie, use your heart instead of your head to make the decision. Let your heart guide your route to work, and the way you dress in the morning. Let your heart choose who you spend your time with this week.

Ask yourself “what do I truly want most in my life right now?”

Ignore the ‘yeah, buts’ that will show up, or the reasons why you think you can’t have what you want.

Let your heart do the talking – you may surprise yourself.

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