How many of us spend most of our lives lost in the thoughts dancing around in our heads?
I admit I’ve always been a bit of a troublemaker, someone who tends to overanalyze and overthink. I am an expert in imaginary scenarios, what ifs and future projections, which have often been to my detriment.
I would say that for a large part of my life, I led with my head.
This is not always a bad thing. My head is full of ideas, assessments, and sharp observations. He was 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 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 actually much more emotionally intelligent than they think.
The heart holds short and long term memories. It is actually the emotional center of our souls with an energy that extends from us by six feet, like a balloon or an aura/electromagnetic energy field.
We can trace this intuitive intelligence 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 synchronize with her baby’s heartbeat.
Our inner voice or higher self is our intuitive and energetic heart.
Increasing research is emerging on how important our hearts are to our spiritual, emotional and physical health. Our hearts have a huge role to play in our lives and in our connection with 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 Mathematics Institute. He said –
“What we’re really showing is what all the great philosophers and religions around the planet have been talking about for millennia, which is that the heart is that door, if you will, to that deeper part of us. 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. You don’t feel constricted or afraid. When you tap into your heart, you are operating from a place of deep love. It’s a different kind of energy.
The energy radiates 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 liberating energy. You can too.
Our hearts communicate differently with our minds. They lead us along a more aligned and higher vibrational path.
When we experience positive emotions such as appreciation, love and gratitude, our heart beats 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 the head and the heart, but so many of us are disconnected from our heart intelligence that we need to work to realign with it. I think leading and living from our heart centers can be transformative for our lives.
Benefits of Living and Leading from Your Heart Include:
- Greater understanding of your intuition.
- Alignment with your highest life path.
- More assertive and faster decision making.
- You feel 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 To Go To The Center Of Your Heart?
As we all know, simply turning off your mind is a huge task, especially for the overthinkers among us!
Start on Open Your Heart.
Do you feel that your heart is closed? Do you feel disconnected from her and overprotective?
That is very common among all of us. The release and surrender to open your heart is not something to be afraid of.
Simply 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, dance, art, journaling, or other creative activities. Allow your emotions to rise and be released, especially if they are painful and you generally avoid feeling them.
2) Meditate and focus on opening your heart chakra. You can do this by imagining a beautiful green light extending out from your heart and growing brighter as you breathe in and out, releasing difficult emotions.
3) Practice regular gratitude. Start each morning with a quick gratitude ritual such as writing a list of everything you appreciate in your life, or doing a body scan 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 by your sides and lift your chest to stand tall. Imagine your heart center expanding outward 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 need guidance on, travel into your heart space by feeling into the vibrations held there.
6) Try to ignore any immediate thoughts of yours and instead focus on what you feel. Apply your attention to where your heart is and feel the energy there, let its messages speak to you. Be here in the feelings of your heart and feel the guidance you seek.
There are many beautiful ways to practice opening your heart. Follow the above steps for a few weeks and feel the changes that happen.
Coming from the space of your heart can also help you to avoid being dragged into unnecessary conflict and polarizing debates.
Following your heart gives you a true sense of knowing, guidance and clarity and is incredibly powerful, leading you in new directions and opening you up to the magic and wonder of life’s possibilities.
You should also check out my friend Jace’s blog about Open your Heart Chakra.
