Are You Addicted to Thinking?
I thought why not on Valentine’s Day, take the opportunity to share with you a fundamental piece of true health: the importance of getting out of your head and dropping into your Heart.
Are you addicted to thinking?
When it comes to having more of what you want in life, whether that’s more health, better relationships with your family or a more satisfying career, do you believe you just have to “figure it out”? Have you come to rely mostly on thinking as your way out of life’s problems and situations? Is making “pro and con” lists your go-to tool for decisions in your life?
Sure, there’s the part of us knows the power of speaking “from the heart”, we often tell our kids “follow your heart”.
But its hard to ecsape the reality, that we live in a culture that favors the logical mind over all else and in doing so we deprive ourselves of our most inherent and powerful capacity: the wisdom that resides in our Heart.
There have been so many times when I’ve been confronted with situations big and small where I have consciously stepped back, gotten out of my head and followed my heart only to receive the clarity I needed to take positive action.
Simply put, our heart always speaks the truth. It’s an inner guidance system. It speaks to you every day with the energy of love, kindness and creativity. It is the essence of who you are and it’s always trying to guide you on the path to what’s best for you – that is of course, if we learn to quiet our busy chattering minds long enough to listen.
Our rational mind may get us part of the way but the thing is when we drop into our hearts, we don’t just know the answers, we can feel them with every ounce of our being. What is exuded in the heart oftentimes can’t be explained by the logical mind. A calm and light feeling in your heart is your sign to follow through because your heart is happy and at peace. A constrained and heavy feeling in your heart is your sign that the decision or thought is not aligning with what is true for you.
Learning to trust your heart is key to the process of habit change.
Your reasons for the change you seek have to resonate in your heart or permanent change doesn’t stand a chance. If your reasons are skin deep, you will be repeating the changes over and over again without sustainable results.
For example if you want to lose weight, exercise or quit sugar simply to fit into your skinny jeans, your ego, not your heart will pay attention. However, if you think that eating healthy and losing weight will help you live longer, enjoy your grandchildren, allow you to explore your dreams more – now your heart’s in the game. And in my practice with clients, I have found the most significant shifts are indeed heart based. When my clients really understand their motivation to change – They Do.
Your heart will let you know what’s best for you.
We spend so much energy looking outside of ourselves for answers and solutions. We believe that doctors, teaches, coaches, counselors know more than us and therefore know what’s best for us. And sure there are people who are leaders in their fields who give us expert advice, but when it comes down to what is right for you, make time to listen to your heart and remember you already know you better than anyone else.
To trust your heart is to trust your Self and that is a game changer for living a peaceful and joy filled life.
It has taken a dedicated practice to trust my heart. For me that includes, meditation, yoga, journaling, walking and sitting quietly with my hand on my heart. It’s not always a straight line and definitely has its share of detours and pitfalls. I still catch myself falling back into the habit of overthinking myself out of a situation or ignoring my heart’s guidance and doing something else – that never works – so I start over, try not to take myself so seriously and start again.
So on this Valentines’ Day, may you remember the importance of making time each day to listen to the loving messages from your own dear heart.
