Path With Heart
Imagery associated with the heart links us to feelings of love, passion and personal emotions; the softer side of life’s experiences.
In our fast-moving society, matters of the heart are often put on the back-burner. As a result, we become susceptible to signing up for a life without heart.
We are bombarded daily with so much information that selective perception is a key survival skill. We only let in what we decide is personally important to us.
Our core values drive our decisions. If we are unaware of what we value, we will consistently make our choices based on the inherited though unexplored values from our upbringing. When our core values are undefined, the stage is set to become an unwilling participant in choices that leave us confused and unfulfilled.
There are two sayings that speak to the role that our underlying values play in the creation of our personal happiness. The first is: “Who you are speaks so loudly, I can’t hear a word you are saying.”
When we talk about love and peace when neither love nor peace is in our hearts, it is a deceptive evasion of the fact that our actions don’t align with our words. We talk the talk but are unable to walk it.
When we continue to solve the same issue without true resolve it is because we are stuck in a recurring cycle of “you never get enough of what you really don’t want.” This mind twister points to the fact that our self-discovery inquiry has stopped and therefore we keep repeating approaches that don’t work.
We each have the innate power to create a life that is wholesome and rewarding. The key to tapping into that creative force is to claim our birthright to our own beliefs, dreams and wants. When we commit to having a life that works, we begin the process of taking responsibility for our choices. We learn to accept both the benefits and prices of our decisions and actions. We become more conscious than cavalier in our decision-making. We begin to choose what we want to create rather than merely avoiding what we don’t want.
When we are overly-attached to being seen as invulnerable, in control and supremely self-confident, we set ourselves up for a stilted, stifling life of pretending to be somebody while having our creativity hijacked by our need to manage a flawless image.
When we use our powerful abilities to avoid life’s challenges, our selective perception narrows our vision to being always on the lookout for the dragons and demons of our past failures.
We can never move past what we don’t want because we have yet to envision what we do want. When we consciously choose to uncover, discover, honor, and respect what we value, life cooperates by partnering with us to create a life that works.
My youngest brother, when he was about three, was upstairs in his room playing. All of a sudden, we heard a crash and then Andy started screaming at the top of his lungs. My mother and I rushed up the stairs and when we got to him, this is what he tearfully said: “Somebody was jumping on the bed…and I fell off!”
When we try to operate exclusively through our intellectual capabilities, we proceed to jump on the bed of life, going after what we want in the moment. When we fall off, get hurt or derailed, all we have available are our justifications as to why it wasn’t our fault. We become trapped in the false premise that there is some way to trick life into giving us all the benefits at no price.
When we decide to build a strong working partnership between our mental and emotional intelligence, we begin to fine-tune our receptivity to hearing the inner wisdom that will guide us to creating a life with heart.
Susan is a local resident, leadership development facilitator and author of: Beyond Intellect: Journey Into the Wisdom of Your Intuitive Mind. Reach her at: susanvelasquez.com
