Guided by your Heart

It seems only appropriate to dedicate some attention to our hearts during February, the month of love. However, this blog has little to do with our hearts in the context of finding love or romance.

My intention here is to invite you to reconnect, discover and be guided by your heart intelligence. It’s all about living beyond the brain and allowing yourself to be guided by your inner wisdom and your emotional intelligence when making decisions.

To quote Thomas Carlyle:

It is the heart that always sees, before the head can see

How do I do that?, you might be wondering. Or, you might catch yourself saying “I am a logical person so please don’t give me all that touchy feely stuff”. The fact is there is nothing fluffy and hippie about heart intelligence. The sooner you realise that, the sooner magic can begin to happen.

I completely understand the “but I am a logical thinker“ type of argument. I recognised myself living at the mercy of my logical brain for years mainly due to my business background. Now, I have the awareness to catch myself in the act when I am spending too much time in the head centre to solve problems or create solutions. It takes discipline and willingness to open your mind to other possibilities. It is amazing how easy things flow when working from the heart and how much clearer and stress-free it is.

In other words, heart intelligence is at the source of Emotional Intelligence. Without the guiding influence of our hearts, we can fall prey to more reactive type of emotions and behaviours such as fear, doubt, and blame and even become emotionally drained or ill in the process. When you are in alignment you will feel connected to your true heart emotions like calm, joy, peace and it feels good.

It wasn’t until I started realising that my best life decisions were supported by my head, heart and gut centres of intelligence being in coherence and working in alignment for the best possible outcome, that I took notice and started having the awareness to change. It really was that simple.

The good news is that you won’t lose your logical brain! Trust me, your ability and intellect, your being able to operate in a linear and logical manner will always be there for you but you will also gain access to your intuition and inner wisdom and to an expanded awareness to higher qualities to come up with solutions and inspired actions that can only flow when you are in a space of presence, being in the moment and allowing your life to flow. That can only happen when you allow this heart space to coexist with everything else.

So, the answer to “How do I do that?”

• Awareness is key. When catching yourself spending way too much time in thoughts and logical arguments with yourself in that moment of awareness you have a choice to stop and reconsider.
• Meditation, relaxation, contact with nature – be it cycling, running, walking are some of the great ways to start going back to the basics and start cultivating your own heart intelligence.
• Finally, pay attention to the signals and symbols all around you. Last December I was delivering training in Amsterdam and the date coincided with the city light festival. Literally outside my hotel was this magnificent heart display that you see in the picture. When I saw it I thought to myself: now here is a reminder to be guided by your heart! In that moment I felt in alignment with myself and it felt right.

If you are reading this you are alive and you have a heart. Listen to it. Are you happy with your life choices so far? What is stopping you from moving forward?  Is there any conflict between your heart, head and gut? How can you reconcile them? What opportunities are there waiting for you if you follow your heart?

Today is a good day to start cultivating your own heart intelligence. The sooner you start the easier it will get.

Contact Maria:
Linkedin
maria@motivatedjoyfulliving.ie
Skype: motivatedjoyfulliving
Website: confidencebuilding.ie
Irish Independent Article in conversation with Tania Sweeney