Would you like to follow your heart, but something is stopping you?
Does it feel uncomfortable, uncertain, and maybe even confusing to follow your heart?
What you are experiencing is to be expected when you’re first starting this journey.
It’s a sign that you’re heading in the right direction, because your mind and body are making adjustments to a new way of being.
Your mind wants proof that heart-centered living works. The only problem is that you won’t get proof until you start.
It will feel awkward at first, like anything new, but once you see that your heart is leading you on exactly the path you need, your mind will begin to fall in line.
The Battle Between Your Mind & Your Heart
When you’re a novice in heart-centered matters, it feels safer to follow your mind.
This sense of comfort is an illusion, because when you look at your past, you see that solely following your mind hasn’t helped you create the life you truly want.
This is what I discovered when I began listening to my heart. I was miserable, pessimistic and always proud of my impeccable “logic.”
Your heart, however, is connected to something larger. You may call it spirit, the unconscious, God, higher-self, or the Universe.
I don’t worry too much about the label. What I care about are the effects.
The Art of Not-Knowing
This is not to say that you have to kill your mind, because it has its uses. It means that you aim for a more balanced approach.
Let your heart and mind integrate, and work as a team. When you follow your heart more, and your mind sees the results, the integration naturally occurs.
However, you have to take that initial leap of faith to get the process going. We’ve been taught that we should know everything before we do anything.
We spend our lives avoiding the unknown, but the truth of the matter is that you don’t have to know everything to know enough.
You only have to know your next step, and the next step is uncovered by listening to your heart.
It may come as a gentle nudge, a thought, a feeling, or even a song on the radio.
How to Take Action and Acquire Proof
If you’ve been reading my articles, you already have some proof that heart-centered living works, and works well.
You’ve probably seen others follow their hearts. It looks good, but you may doubt your own abilities.
You may even look at other people living their passion, and think that you could never do what they do. They must have some kind of magical ability, right?
Wrong.
They’ve simply learned to listen to their hearts.
They aren’t fearless. They simply take things one day at a time, one step at a time. They feel fear, overwhelm, and confusion, just like anyone else.
The difference is that they have developed the trust in themselves, just like you are doing right now, to overcome fears and work with them.
The fact that you are feeling what you are feeling now is a sign that you are heading in the right direction, because “negative” feelings will always be there to greet you when you embark on a path worth traveling.
How to Follow Your Heart
I can’t give you the exact steps for following your heart, because your signals will differ from mine, but what I can do is share my experiences.
Most people overlook messages from their heart because they are looking in the wrong direction. If you focus on the grass on the ground, you will miss the birds above.
Keep your eyes open and your focus wide, because you never know where your heart will nudge you.
One of the main ways that I follow my heart is by noticing my feelings. These feelings come with an aroma of peace and subtle encouragement.
They are enduring, which means they tend to stay the same over time.
For example: Someone may contact me about a business partnership. What I’ll do is stay open and notice how things feel. Most of the time it won’t feel right, or something will feel off, so I either say no, or decide to wait.
And if they pressure me, and I still don’t know, the answer is no.
Now, I’ll also use my mind to assess things, such as if I have time, if I want to do this, and so on. There’s never any rush to jump into an opportunity, even if it may seem like it.
There will always be more opportunities. I cannot miss out on my purpose in life. Life itself will see to that.
And remember, this is just how it works for me. It’s up to you to experiment with how your body communicates with you.
Being Right is Not the Goal
I do my best to trust my heart, but sometimes the feelings and nudges I get aren’t authentic.
In other words, I can misinterpret what they are all about. Sometimes the messages from my heart can be clouded by the emotions I feel inside.
And I’m okay with that. I know that I won’t get it right all the time, and this small amount of uncertainty adds a bit of spice to my life.
Sometimes it’s fun, and sometimes it isn’t. It’s all a part of the game we call life.
The more you follow your heart, the better you get at it. It’s like with anything else; it’s not about being perfect, it’s about learning and discovering how your heart communicates with you.
You won’t always be right, but you will always be heading in the right direction, even when you feel like you’re not.
Your Life is Changing
The fact that you’re reading this means that something inside of you is looking for a change. You are already changing inside, and you can feel it, can’t you?
My “heart” came online in my late teens. I knew that I wasn’t heading in the right direction. Something had to change, and it did.
It didn’t happen overnight, but as I put one foot in front of the other, change happened, and I discovered what passionate living was all about.
And while you may feel confused from time to time, know that it’s just a sign that you are growing and evolving.
There’s a reason why you’ve read this article. Something resonates with you, and you may not even know what it is, and that’s okay.
The positive feeling inside is a message from your heart.
It’s a sign that you’re already following your heart. You’re already on the right path.
You already have what it takes to live a heart-based life.
Now it’s up to you to expand how much you listen to you heart, and that can only happen through listening and experimenting.
Have fun,
Henri
Image by Brian
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Henri:
You’ve made a very important point at the end of you post. The very nature of growth (what you are calling “change”) is that it is almost impossible for the person undergoing it to recognize what is happening. That is why benchmarks are a good idea – like a mark on the wall to show a kid how much he grew the last year. That is why as a teacher I often advised students to review material they had covered six months before. They were always amazed at how what had stumped before had now become easy.
Shlomo
So true about following your heart. Sometimes you dont even realize that your are changing and are already doing the things you love. Setting benchmarks is definitely neessary as that is the only way you will be able to see growth in your new direction.
Good luck to you and keep on inspiring.
Ingrid
Good article, Henri. So much is about balance of heart and mind. Even when you lose a prized customer, it’s not always a loss, but a new beginning for another one. The benchmark should not always be about numbers, how many, how much, but it should be about quality. I would rather spend my time working with fewer, and doing it passionately that working with many and only working out of necessity.
Great post again!
I like how you describe the way you follow your heart: if it does not feel right: don’t do it, if you don’t know: explore. It sounds a very interesting idea that I like to ‘explore’ 🙂
What I find difficult is making the difference between the emotions of the body and the feelings of the heart. Sometimes I feel very excited about something or somebody, but don’t know whether is an outside motivation or an inside inspiration from the heart. For example: ‘is this an exciting course to follow?” What I do is waiting for one day and evaluate it again and in most cases I can decide then. This works, but it takes at least one day. It is not a fast decision making tool 🙂
Hey Marc!
I have the same challenge; I can’t always distinguish the signals, but that’s okay. The interesting thing about waiting is that it may take an extra 24 hours, but the more you practice it, the better you get at it.
So it may start off as a slower decision making tool, but in time becomes a fast one, when you become better at it 😉
It is indeed a slower decision making tool and I believe that it can become faster in time, but what what I truly like about it is, that it is VERY accurate. I cannot remember I ever made a bad decision with this one.
I’ve learned that my heart makes a particular “sound” that is distinguishable from other “sounds” this body I’m occupying makes. The challenge is to 1) figure out what the heart “sounds” like, and 2) be able to tell if this is a “heart sound” or some other kind of sound. I find that my head (call it the “mind” if you want) and my ego make the most noise and can sometimes even mimick the sound of my heart. But at least in my case, my heart has a pretty distinctive sound so it’s usually not too hard to know for sure. The sound of my ego is usually that of a child jumping up and down and repeating the same thing over and over (“I want ice cream! I want ice cream! I want ice cream!”). The sound of my mind is much more smart-ass (“This is a really dumb thing to do!”). The sound of my heart, however, is more like a strong rumble than anything else and comes from a deep, dark place.
Meditation helped me first discover these various sounds, and further meditation helped me distinguish between them. But my various allies really sealed the deal for me and now I’m almost always able to tell which aspect of “me” is speaking.
I should also mention that whatever my heart tells me, it has always (ALWAYS!!!!) been 100% correct — even though mind and ego might be going crazy telling me that it’s all wrong.
Peace to All
Interesting idea. So if I understand well, you can “hear” you heart versus I “feel” my heart. What kind of meditation did you use to get this insight?
Meditation is usually some form of TM. Just concentrating on the breath and floating in silent darkness between the thoughts. The Heart comes in loud and clear, then, because the mind/ego has been quieted enough.
Yes — I hear my heart rather an feel it. Of course the sound I hear does evoke a feeling, so I guess I’d rather say that I hear it AND feel it. ‘Tis a beautiful, beautful thing.
Peace to All
Our heart is the key to achieving our wildest dreams. If we follow our hearts we obtain our goals!!! The mind is good but the heart take the cake.
I can’t begin to explain how inspiring today has been. To put things into a nutshell, during college (and even graduate school) I never developed a dream career or life-goal, just sort of picked a major, graduated and went to work thinking that’s just the way life is. While I’m successful at what I do, it was never my dream to wind up where I am, I just sort of ended up here and still feel like I’m looking for something. Over the past year or two I’ve been contemplating working on a few product development projects I have in my head but had no idea where to start and sort of used that as an excuse to put it off (not to mention lack of money). But all that changed this morning during my commute, I had an epiphany; I figured out this is what my passion is and realized this must be what it feels like to have a dream. Then I found this blog during my lunch-break and it just convinced me that this feeling is my heart telling my mind which way I should go. All of the sudden I feel like a little kid on the eve of my first trip to Disney World. I’m 44 years old and have finally decided what I want to do when I grow up!
🙂 Good luck! Enjoy the journey.
Hey Henri,
I wrote a similar post on listening to the heart over the head. Many believe that since the head mind is on top that we should follow it but this simply isn’t true.
Thanks..i really needed to hear that.
Henri,
Thank You.
I appreciate your point of view. You have an intuitive approach and trust your feelings.
Listening to your heart is important. There are too many talking heads in today’s world. These so-called “experts” will give you information and opinions which are often contradict. So, it becomes difficult to make up your own mind. Which path should you pursue?
This is where your post comes into play. Listen to your intuitive self: it whispers a secret which is silent, but you must learn how to access it. I have become much better at this game ever since I started to meditate. That was several years ago, so I am glad I have stuck to my guns.
The daily practice of meditation has enabled me to listen to my heart. I always wanted to be a writer, so I am exploring this option right now. And my heart enabled me to avoid becoming a doctor, lawyer, engineer, accountant, etc. I was never interested in these professions, although I could have pursued these professions. However, my heart was not in it, so I decided to travel by the road not taken. I am happier and wiser for this decision–for I listened to my heart.
Cheers.
I love this post man, it’s so true and inspirational. The Art of Not Knowing is so important to the whole process of following your dreams. Not knowing what the end product is isn’t what we should focus on but what our next step is. If we keep making steps eventually the end product will come and it will be greater than we wanted
Thank you Henri. I needed this. I’m thinking of going solo again – quitting the day job I should have never taken to deliberately live as a writer.
*Hugs*
Annie
Great article. You make some really good points. I try to follow my heart in everything I do as well as my mind. Yes, you will make mistakes but I feel that’s the best way to go.
Thanks for the reminder, Henri. I love to follow my heart and do the things that my heart wants me to do. Sometimes, I question my heart because the heart can make some mistakes.
Like you said – it’s all about the balance.
i started following my heart at the age of 26, when i was released from prison, i wanted to change my life. my friends told me i was crazy for not selling drugs, i was going to be broke, i was going to suffer, they said everything….. but i had to follow my heart, i just felt like i would be betraying myself if i didn’t and i do fully trust and believe in myself, so i took the leap of faith…. i done it i followed my heart, i suffered, i struggled, i found a job and then quit the job and became self employed.
i found something in the deep dark corners of my soul. i found ambition, i found motivation, i found a long lost dream, i found myself, i found a purpose, and i think i might have just found love. I FEEL SO PEACEFUL RIGHT NOW
Awesome. Thanks for sharing that, Ernest!
Thank you so much for this article. It really resonated with me. I didn’t know how to follow my heart but my heart did it for me. I was faced with a big decision, a life changing decision and I was scared but my heart helped me realize that although change is scary, difficult and emotional, it was ok, because there is a new door opening for me. In order to grow, I need to be ok with walking through that door and being strong in order to deal with what lies beyond.
Glad you liked it, Ashley. I loved what you said about your heart guiding you even though you didn’t know how, because that’s often what happens. Our hearts guide us even if we aren’t paying attention. And when you want more from your heart, you only have to listen..
Hope all goes well!
Thanks for this great post. I have been following my heart and making the changes i need for my life. This article is just a reminder that i made the right decision and should continue.
Thanks Henri,
The heart is the key to joy and as you have explained its mysterious.
I’ve found that it helps to know that there are three consciousness centers: the intellectual ego conscious mind in the head, the emotional long term memory subconscious mind in the gut, and the superconscious mind in the heart. Its still easy to mix up the messages but I’ve found that focusing on my heart center helps me get in touch with the infallible wisdom of my heart. I’m finishing my third book about folloing my heart. The first two are on amazon by me George Chyz. Hope to put the new one up soon.
Hey Henri,
Thanks for this amazing article!
I’ve been undergoing the changes you describe in your article, slowly, but consistently.
My process began nearly ten years ago, while watching a fund-raiser on our Public Television channel. Dr. Wayne Dyer was hawking his book, “Inspiration” and it touched something in me. I bought the book and have been on the most awesome journey ever since that night.
I don’t claim to be a guru on the subject of following my heart, yet what I’ve learned in the intervening years has allowed me to hone my intuition to a astounding level.
Looking back on my life I can see that the Universe has always had my back, and things have fallen into place despite my worst intentions. In other words, I’ve been blessed.
I have that “positive feeling” inside me, and the result is that I’m in the process of writing my first book, the first of a series that I hope will enable me to achieve some measure of financial success.
Yet the financial success is actually secondary to the quest for peace of mind and serenity, which are, in my mind, the nectar of the Gods. I love this article and the confidence it inspires in me that I’m on the right track.
Thanks again!
Thanks for the comment, Tom!
Realizing that financial success may come, or it may not, is key. What comes, comes. All we can do is follow our heart, to the best of our ability, and let the rest fall into place.
Great post mate,
Its always good to pay attention to our heart knowing that it will rarely mislead us.
People usually ignore this because they’re afraid that they might make a mistake but the truth is that I’ve never seen anyone who made a mistake by following his heart provided he is convinced enough that his heart is telling him the truth.
Thanks Henri for this great post. It is so easy to say follow your heart but as you rightly say it feels strange at first, You are worried because of the uncertainty and the heart and mind not in unison. As you correctly pointed out it takes time to get there. It is unfamiliar territory you are in and with time it will click.
Thanks again for this great post. I had to read it twice and comment
Very nice article.
I find that my heart leads me to two kinds of being: the obsessive state and the confused state. The obsessive state is when I realize something I must do, while following the heart, and I engage in it for a long time, fully engrossed in it. The confused state is – as you described – when I am experiment, and frequently I must change course and realize that I am not heading in a direction of my heart zone. In that state, it is very intricate and experimental, usually leading me slowly past my current status quo.
I see it that we have all been channeled into a system that herds us into directions that we see as “normal”. So we compare ourselves … look around to see if we are succeeding at ” being normal” … the acceptable status quo. A road that often leads to misery and boredom.
When we read posts like this or are inspired by something along our daily experience and our heart gives that positive leap we feel energy. Energy is life! There is a resonance , congruence…. this feels right, lets pay attention. When I feel that energy, that sends me to the next step …. to dream , imagine, create… then it becomes tangible. I hold onto it, the “tangible” in my mind and let the heart bring the message. Then the steps begin to appear on the path to its fulfillment. So.. I follow, keeping the dream, the imagined , the end as I saw it in my focus. Bringing it to…. reality.
You’re the best of them all Henri
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed the article!