We’ve all had to make decisions that felt important in one way or another, and sometimes these decisions haven’t always felt easy to make. Whether it be to leave that job, relationship, or make that big move cross country, the logic creeps in before we’ve even gotten to fully feel the pulse of our heart’s subtle wisdom. There can be levels and layers of confusion that steer us from the truth we know within. At our innermost core, the faces of illusions are nothing more than projected images that can easily be seen for what they are. The way I see it, following our hearts can be the most fluid and effortless thing we do on a daily basis. Feel about it. It’s a muscle, after all, and the more we consult with it, the stronger the muscle memory becomes.
From my experience, finding my way back to the path of a heart-led life meant actively creating it from the smallest of examples. It meant less seeking for the flash of insight or blazing epiphany and more creating for the spaces of stillness to listen deeply. It’s a practice, not a race. It’s made from the simple things you do upon opening your eyes each day and all the actions that lead up to resting your head again come the night. Ultimately, following your heart becomes the lifestyle birthed from a mystery that once felt so foreign.
The heart is your body’s first responder
According to a HeartMath study, the heart is the first to feel in any given situation. If you stay tuned for our upcoming documentary, you’ll see examples where people can anticipate a situation before it presents itself. Call it the heart’s intuition or the body’s first responder, but there is a powerful and subtle force that speaks to us before the mind ever kicks in. Aligning ourselves to this tune is incredibly simple and accessible the more we create space to listen.
How to listen to your heart
There’s no philosophizing here. You’re heart is already guiding you. What has worked for me is simply listening to my heartbeat and feeling its pulse. There are hundreds of energetic heart meditations and sound frequencies available to assist in this exercise if you feel called to it.
The way I like to listen to my heart is free from need or expectation. Rather than going to my heart solely when I seek guidance, I dedicate time to experience her in her being. Imagine feeling up to your knees and confused about whether to leave your 9 to 5 office job to pursue the business you want to launch. How can you fully expect to hear your heart clearly if you haven’t spent any time listening to it on a regular basis? Sometimes it just takes that split second of courageous action to alter the course of your life. The more you listen to your heart, the more courage embeds itself as a natural reflex.
Whether you carve out space each morning or sit for an extra minute after parking the car, your heart is always available to you. This exercise is incredibly simple, and that’s what makes it so powerful. Implement this in your daily lifestyle, and the practice will become permanent.
Sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Set an intention to listen to your heart without the need for any answers or insights. Take three deep breaths through your nose. Allow this force to fill you from your root and belly up and through your heart. Release each breath with an exhalation through the mouth. After taking these three initial deep breathes, place one hand on your belly and the other on your heart.
Feel the physical heart beating as you breathe. What do you notice? Does it feel rushed or is it steady? There is no need to judge. This is all information and wisdom. Continue breathing and notice whether or not you can feel the heart’s energy pulse into your hand. Maybe you don’t feel anything right away, or perhaps you feel an electric thread journey through your palm.
It is a gentle process so remember to be patient with yourself
This is all experimentation as you show up and let your heart know you are here. You are listening. After so many years of following the logical mind, you have returned to soak in the magic that can only be felt. As you sit with your hand on your heart, you might see visions, or you might get carried off into a thought loop. You might feel an expansive warmth unfold across your chest, or you might notice how you can sit taller with your heart out and open.
Rather than expecting an answer to a question, this exercise is meant to tune you into the subtle language of the heart. Like any dialect, how can we fully communicate if we don’t know what the expressions mean? By connecting with your heart in this way, you strengthen the trust between one another while learning what certain feelings mean to you. It’s incredibly juicy in itself, and the more fluent you become with one another, the more you’ll respond from this inner knowing.
This small change will direct the tiniest decisions in your day from what to eat or where to visit. It is in these minuscule alterations where you will be able to truly follow your heart on bigger decisions in your life. The true power lies in knowing external opinions and self-doubt can never get in the way of your inner flame.