Listen With Your Heart

If you have ever heard somebody say follow your heart you probably should have listened to them. I have a slightly different view on it however. I believe rather than saying follow your heart, you should listen with your heart. Let me clarify what I mean for a moment. Many of you will say that your heart cannot listen and that it is a figure of speech to listen to your heart. The heart anatomically is only designed for one thing, and that is to pump blood throughout the body. We neglect the fact that there are parts of the brain that are associated with different attributes. We have a part of the brain for instinctive function, a emotional part for feelings, and a "thinking brain" that allows us to analyze things. 

The thinking part of the brain is where we have a tendency to stay. We are taught our entire lives to think critically and analytically. These are important tools that separate us from other animals, and allow us rationalize and think in word and number form. The only problem with this is we have been conditioned to ignore our "gut" instincts. This creates internal conflict between the heart and the mind. 

In my life the best example I can share is in a past relationship. I was with a girl for a while and in my heart I knew it would never work. I could feel it in my stomach by feeling queasy and flutters. Most people would tell you that means you are in love, but I felt it in a different manner. Deep down my heart was telling me that it wasn't right and that it wasn't going to work. In my head I was telling myself that is was working and would last. The internal conflict came from my body telling me one thing, and my brain trying to rationalize the situation. The problem is instinctively I knew something wasn't right, but I was deceiving myself. 

The mind and the eyes can be easily fooled because we think we have the knowledge to overcome obstacles. In reality we know very little and we trust what we have been told instead of what we feel. We place a judgement on our feelings by what we have been taught. Everyone as a child has been faced with a situation that they felt was wrong but were talked into doing it anyway. Their friends told them it was okay and they saw how much "fun" it could be, so they did it. The eyes and ears have been deceived when the heart and body knew the outcome ahead of time. It has been said that you should believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see, and this can be and is very true. 

If we would just learn to listen to what our body is telling us we would make better decisions and live a much fuller life. Your heart and your gut are not as easily fooled like your eyes, ears, and mind. Don't try to rationalize why you feel a certain way. If you feel like something is wrong do not let someone tell you its okay, because your body has already sent the message that it does not wish to partake in the event. I believe that we were born knowing right from wrong and can sense situations. It is often refereed to as a sixth sense and called "intuition", but i believe it is just instinctively given to you by God to help you navigate your way through life. 

Learn to listen to what your body is telling you and don't shut down emotions. If you are sad, happy, angry, or otherwise just embrace the feeling. Don't place judgement on what you feel because it is your instincts speaking to you. You can feel what is right and what is wrong. Do not go on what the world tells you is acceptable, but rely on what you know from your body and the convictions you feel from God.