Inner Connection
“The heart has its own language. The heart knows a hundred thousand ways to speak.” — Rumi
I’d like you to close your eyes and bring your attention to your chest and focus on the feelings and sensations that surround it. While doing so, continue to breathe easily and direct your focus on this area. You might encounter tingling feelings; images might flash across your mind; let them show up. Now open your eyes. Welcome to the resonance of your heart. You have embarked on the first step in experiencing your heart energy.
The voice of the heart is quiet and assuring, in contrast to the relentless mental dialogue which drowns it out. The language of the heart is the call of the soul, which echoes in a faint whisper. Upon closer examination, we see the ego is dominant, relentless, and ill-advised to help us navigate life. It is the cunning friend with good intentions, spurring us towards insensitive acts of courage. In comparison, the heart speaks in a clear and reassuring way to reinforce our personal success and soul’s transformation.
I’m reminded of a delightful tale by the late psychotherapist, Anthony de Mello, who writes: “What must I do to attain holiness?” said a traveller. “Follow your heart,” said the Master. That seemed to please the traveller. Before he left, however, the Master said to him in a whisper: “To follow your heart, you are going to need a strong constitution.” A strong constitution is required, since the heart’s wisdom will often conflict with the logic of the mind. It is experienced as an emotion, a sensation, or an inner experience, while the mind’s narrative is firm and resolute. Have you noticed this, where your heart speaks softly whereas the mind seems to shout at you? How do you respond to it?
The Way Of The Heart
“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.” — Carl Jung
Consider this: soulful living is an invitation to live beyond the material world, where we are guided by our heart’s wisdom. This is challenging because we are unfamiliar communicating with our heart, since our focus is fixed on left brain logic. It is the analysis and over-analysis which leads to paralysis of the body. It is why I am drawn to the message by spiritual author Gary Zukav, who affirms in The Seat Of The Soul: “Feel your intentions in your heart. Feel not what your mind tells you, but what your heart tells you.”
You see, our addictions cause us to react to external events while being insensitive to the call of our inner wisdom. To experience the heart’s expansive wisdom, we must develop the capacity to listen. This is challenging when our external world is constantly calling for our attention. We are exposed to fear-based news stories, products or services we don’t need or, worse still, a celebrity scandal that carries limited importance to us. We don’t have to be drawn into this endless drama. We can choose to be pulled by life’s circumstances or be led by the call of our spirit, which knows the way. To know the language of the heart is the essence of love; the foundation of universal power. Love is the highest order conferred to us at the moment of conception. Millions of people spend their entire life in search of their soulmate, while all along they seek to experience the essence of their soul nature.
Heart Based Living
“Who would I be if I fell into the heart, not as some sort of ideal, not as something I imagine, but something that I actually allow to happen at the deepest level?” — Adyashanti
Therefore, we ought to live from the heart, instead of a self-centred existence based on what is missing in our life. This heart-based living I speak of is a return to wholeness. We do not disconnect from this aspect of our being, apart from becoming distracted and lose our way. Similarly, language is not confined to that learned and communicated through words. It is conveyed through intuition, somatic experience, such as sensations, feelings, and an inner knowing. We must connect with this inner wisdom to discover the entirety of our being. Are you comfortable with this idea of deepening your connection with yourself?
Meditation and regular silence are valuable practices to connect with the heart because we lower the volume on the endless chatter that occupies the spaces between our thoughts. For many, retreating into silence means being alone with their thoughts instead of embodying their sacred nature. It is why I enjoy the passage by the American spiritual teacher Adyashanti who writes: “Who would I be if I fell into the heart, not as some sort of ideal, not as something I imagine, but something that I actually allow to happen at the deepest level?”
The voice of the heart shows itself through feelings that connect you to your soul. When we honour these feelings and intentions, they lead us back home where we yearn to be. For example, the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen said: “Where words fail, music speaks.” The music he speaks of lives in our heart and is discernible if we are silent long enough to hear its message. To be guided by your heart while using the logic of the mind is to unify mind and body so our thoughts and actions emerge from intentional living. So, when our attention deepens into our heart, we discover in that stillness our eternal soul calling us to be one again. For as the Master knew all along: to follow your heart demands a firm constitution. After all, the way of the heart will accept everything, the mind cannot embrace.
