How many of us spend most of our lives lost in the thoughts dancing around in our heads?
I will admit that I have always been a bit of a worrier, someone who tends to overanalyze and overthink things. I’m an expert in imaginary scenarios, what if’s and future projections, which have often been to my detriment.
I would say that for a huge part of my life, I have led with my head.
This isn’t always a bad thing. My head is full of ideas, assessments, and sharp observations. It has been my friend for a long time.
However, my head is also where I can get lost in negativity, fear, and ego-driven thoughts and actions.
The Heart as an Emotional and Intuitive Intelligence
As a general rule, we are not encouraged to lead from our hearts.
Our hearts are seen as more fallible, emotional, and likely to lead us somewhere irrational, but this is a false assumption.
Most people don’t know that our hearts are in fact much more emotionally intelligent than they think.
The heart holds short and long-term memories. It is in fact the emotional center of our souls with energy that extends out from us by six feet, like a bubble or an aura/ electromagnetic energy field.
We can trace this intuitive intelligence as far back to when we were babies in the womb.
Our hearts are developed before the brain at five weeks of growth, and a mother’s brain waves can sync with her baby’s heartbeat.
Our inner voice or higher self is our intuitive, energetic heart.
Increasing research is emerging about how important our hearts are to our spiritual, emotional, and physical health. Our hearts have a huge role to play in our lives and our connection to others and the planet.
Dr. Rollin McCraty has spent his life studying the connection between the heart, mind, body, and energetic fields. He is the Director of Research at the Heart Math Institute. He says —
“What we are really showing is what all the great philosophers and religions all around the planet have been talking about for millennia, which is that the heart is that doorway, if you will, to that deeper part of ourselves.”
But How Does It Feel to Lead from Your Heart as Opposed to Your Head?
I can tell you from personal experience, it feels expansive and loving. It does not feel constricting or fearful. When you tap into your heart, you are operating from a place of deep love. It’s a different kind of energy.
Energy radiates out from you and affects everyone around you and even beyond your immediate surroundings to the entire world.
When I started following my heart more often than my head, I had access to this different, more open, and freeing energy. You can too.
Our hearts communicate in a different way to our minds. They lead us along a more aligned, higher vibrational path.
When we experience positive emotions such as appreciation, love, and gratitude, our hearts beat out a certain message that sends more information to the brain than the brain is sending to the heart.
This intuitive intelligence of the heart is designed to help us communicate better and make better decisions to improve our lives.
Of course, there always needs to be a balance between head and heart, but so many of us are disconnected from our heart intelligence that we need to work on realigning with it. I think leading and living from our heart centers can be transformative for our lives.
Benefits from Living and Leading from Your Heart Include:
- Greater understanding of your intuition.
- Aligning with your highest life path.
- More assertive and quicker decision-making.
- Feeling more positive.
- Calm habits of overthinking and ego-driven thoughts.
- Better communication and relationships.
- Increased energy and creativity.
So How Do You Lead With Your Heart? How Do You Journey Into Your Heart Center?
As we all know simply turning off your mind is a daunting task, especially for the overthinkers among us!
Get started on Opening your Heart.
Do you feel like your heart is closed up? Do you feel disconnected from it and overly protective?
That’s very common among us all. Releasing and surrendering to open your heart is not something to be afraid of.
Just holding the intention to open your heart and connect with it more can have incredible results.
Try these exercises:
1) Practice getting in touch with your emotions through movement, dancing, art, journaling, or other creative pursuits. Allow your emotions to rise and be released, especially if they are painful and you usually avoid feeling them.
2) Meditate and focus on opening your heart chakra. You can do this by imagining a beautiful green light that extends out from your heart and grows brighter as you inhale and exhale, releasing difficult emotions.
3) Practice regular gratitude. Begin every morning with a quick gratitude ritual such as writing a list of all that you appreciate in your life, or body scanning and saying a prayer of thanks for your beautiful physical self. You can also do this by looking in the mirror and saying “I love you”.
4)Practice a power pose. Stand in a wide-legged position with your arms out to the sides and lift your chest to stand tall. Imagine your heart center expanding outwards with energy. You can even release any stuck or blocked emotions with a sound or a deep exhale.
5) Practice making decisions from your heart. When something comes up that you require guidance about, travel into your heart space by feeling into the vibrations held there.
6) Try to ignore any of your immediate thoughts and instead focus on what you feel. Apply your attention to where your heart is and feel the energy there, allowing its messages to speak to you. Be here in the feelings of your heart and feel the guidance you seek.
There are so many beautiful ways to practice opening your heart. Follow the above steps for a few weeks and feel the changes that occur.
Coming from your heart space can also help you to avoid being dragged into unnecessary conflict and polarising debates.
Following your heart gives you a true sense of knowledge, guidance, and clarity and is incredibly powerful, leading you in new directions and opening you to the magic and wonder of life’s possibilities.
You should also check out my friend Jace’s blog about Opening up your Heart Chakra.
