What does it mean to listen to your heart? How does one connect to it? What does that look like? These are questions I often encounter as a Transformational Life Coach.
First, let’s clarify what I mean by heart in this context. I’m not referring to the physical heart, but rather what my mentor and Deep Coaching teacher calls the spiritual heart. It’s that which connects us to the cosmos, our Creator, and our highest self. With this in mind, I thought I would share the steps I take to tune into my own heart wisdom, in the hopes that you will be able to take away a useful nugget or two when trying to connect to your own.
Step 1: Quiet the Mind To truly connect with my heart, I first need to quiet my chattering mind. Meditation is a powerful tool, but it’s not enough to merely sit in silence. In my experience, it must also be accompanied by stillness of mind. I don’t know about you, but if left unchecked, my mind will spin endlessly, weighing every possible option and listing the pros and cons to devise the best strategy for whatever issue I’m currently facing. Or I’ll start thinking about dinner, the bill I forgot to pay, or the meeting I need to schedule—the list is endless. So yes, I get it—this is a big ask and it requires a committed practice. I’m not suggesting that you need to get to a place where thoughts are completely eliminated. I just find that the more I can eliminate or reduce external distractions, focus inward—on the rhythm of my breath, for example—and practice sitting in silence, the more readily I can still the mind, even if only for a brief moment. And this is where Step 2 comes in.
Step 2: Tune into Your Inner Knowing Listening to my heart involves tuning into the knowing inside me. The wisdom that comes from the heart emanates from the center of my chest so it often feels like I am “dropping in” as opposed to being “up” in my head. The heart speaks to me through subtle feelings and sensations. It is a knowing rather than something I think.
Have you ever experienced knowing something to be true, even without logical proof? I’m sure you have. If you’ve ever loved someone and been asked how you know, what do you say? "It’s a feeling” or “I just know." Sometimes it’s a very strong feeling, such as romantic or familial love. But often, it’s barely a whisper, so soft that it can be overlooked by my loud, incessantly chattering mind. Only in silence and stillness can I truly tune into its guidance. Which brings me to Step 3.
Step 3: Embrace Simplicity Another thing I’ve noticed in my experience listening to my heart’s wisdom is that it is as simple as it is profound. If I’m not paying attention, I can easily miss it. In the past, this has caused me to dismiss the guidance because I expected a grandiose gesture or an overly complicated answer to my deepest questions. But, in fact, what I have found is that the truth is usually quite simple.
Step 4: Cultivate Trust Trust is a crucial step that cannot be overstated. Listening to and living from my heart has required an enormous amount of trust—both in myself and in life. The path of the heart has been neither clear nor straightforward and is often invisible to my physical senses. Instead, I have found that I’ve needed to rely more on my clair senses—sometimes referred to as gut instinct or intuition (more on this in a future post)—to navigate the journey.
Conventional wisdom often discredits these inner senses, making it challenging to overcome self-doubt. Without implicit trust in ourselves, self-doubt can easily creep in, and I’ve faced this countless times. It can be debilitating if we don’t have a foundation of trust or faith to fall back on. Heart wisdom often asks us to defy the status quo and follow our own path, which tends to be the one less traveled. Trusting in this process is essential, even when the way forward is not immediately clear.
Summary In a world often dominated by the mind, I have found that embracing a more heart-centered approach to life has been profoundly uplifting and liberating. By quieting my mind, tuning into my inner knowing, embracing simplicity, and cultivating trust, I have been able to access a deeper wisdom that guides me through life's complexities. While these steps are simple, they are not easy. Learning to listen to my heart has required dedicated practice, much like learning a new language.
Living from the heart involves practicing stillness and nurturing trust in myself and in life's unfolding journey towards my highest good. Unlike most new endeavors that require us to do something differently, this journey is about learning a different way of being.
Living more from the heart is a practice I embody in life and in my coaching work. If you feel drawn to explore this way of being, I invite you to schedule a complimentary session with me here: https://calendly.com/monica-mountainflowerpath/introductorycall?month=2024-11
Experience firsthand the power of heart wisdom in guiding you towards a more authentic and fulfilling life.
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