If there’s one thing I’m committed to in life and that I feel pretty good at doing, it’s following my heart. I tend to group this closely together with following my intuition because to me, the two are inextricably linked. My intuition always leads me to wonderful people, places, and things that open my heart and mind. And my heart always wants to go where I’m feeling called.
I’ve never been very good at being the overly rational, logical type, though I certainly know what it feels like to prioritise that in life. Since starting up this site however, one of my biggest values – one of my biggest promises to myself – has been to continue following my heart. Life is just too short not to – I’ve written about this before in the past.
I’ve followed my heart all the way around the world. To Iceland, Budapest, Thailand, British Columbia, Freiburg, Bali. Every one of these spots I’ve felt passionately drawn to and without questioning it or disregarding the pull, I went. The experiences in each of these places has touched my heart in a way that I will remember and hold dear to me always.
Following my heart has led to my meeting soul sisters. It’s led to incredible opportunities, teaching meditation, discovering Kundalini and joining the teacher training I’m currently in, eating in a way that’s healing my body. And now it’s led to this journey of a lifetime that I’m about to embark on in one month’s time…
I’m talking about long-term backpacking through Southeast Asia!!
It is FINALLY happening!!! AHH!
But this ease and willingness to follow my heart, that wasn’t always there. Only since healing my feet has living this way become so important to me… and over the past 3 years, I’ve learned a thing or two about why following your heart is so important for you too.
1). You show yourself tremendous LOVE, respect and VALUE
It’s easy to ignore the subtle pulls of our heart these days with so many other shinier, flashier things vying for our attention. But if you get in the habit of ignoring and disregarding your desires, no matter how small, you in effect train yourself to bury your feelings, wants and dreams. This sends a message to your body that your desires are not worthy and of value. That YOU are not of value.
When I started listening to my heart and honouring where it wanted to go, I felt an immense surge of self-worth rise up from inside. The more I tuned into the heart and acted on the heart, the more valued I felt and the stronger I became. I felt acknowledged and most importantly, I felt deeply cared for and loved. That’s right, following your heart is a massive act of selflove!
This leads to the second benefit. When you follow your heart…
2). Your health will THRIVE
Do you want to know one of the fastest ways we can break down our immune system? When we decide to settle, give up, stop trying and lose hope. You might think that lost sleep, skipped meals or busy work days would impact your immunity harder but I have found that when you’re lit up with heart-centered passion, it unleashes an astonishing amount of energy stored up inside – energy that doesn’t come from food or sleep or relaxation. Energy that rushes up and lights you on fire and you don’t even realise you’ve stayed up half the night or haven’t eaten all day. Where does all this enthusiastic energy suddenly appear from? It rises up and flows when we are engaged in fulfilling, heart-centered work and life experiences.
In my opinion, you cannot have thriving health without excitement, enthusiasm and positivity in life.
How do you cultivate these things? By following your heart! Your heart will always lead you to what feels exciting and wonderful and worthwhile. Your heart always knows where you need to go.
I’ve experienced miraculous gains in my health through only following my heart – not once but over and over and over again, prioritising what makes me so joyful and excited over what “makes sense.” If you want to heal something in your body or amp up your immunity, following your heart is an important part of the healing protocol.
3). You strengthen your INTUITION
The more you follow your heart, the stronger your intuition gets. As I mentioned earlier, the two are so inextricably linked that it’s impossible for one not to effect the other. I’ve always been intuitive but for most of my life I shut down my intuition by refusing to go within and listen. Instead I put a lot of stock in what other people thought and told me – my friends, my family, society, etc. It’s when I started repeatedly following my heart, even at the expense of others judging me or saying I’m wrong, that my intuition skyrocketed and took off.
I always tell people who want to become more intuitive to get in the habit of acting on small gut instincts – those heart desires that might not make any rational sense. The ones that tell you to go to that store now even though it’s 9 at night, to contact that person you haven’t talked to in years, to take that longer route home, to drop your plan for something else in the moment even if it sounds crazy.
When you start listening to and honouring that intuitive voice, you invite your heart to open up and send you more intuitive hits. You get better at distinguishing between guidance from the heart and the logical conclusions you make in your head. It’s like working any muscle – the more you use it, the better and stronger it gets.
4). It becomes easier to TRUST
When you follow your heart, you learn to become comfortable with trusting that things will work out, even if you don’t yet know how. This is because you are always on the right path when you follow your heart. Did you know that? It doesn’t matter if no one else around agrees and everyone thinks you’re crazy. It’s right for YOU.
I fully believe that when I follow my heart, I’m tuning into a higher inner wisdom – the path I’m meant to be on in life. And I believe that the universe always conspires to support where we’re meant to be. Our desires exist because they are clues into what we’re supposed to be doing in this world.
Do you want to know your life’s purpose? Following your heart’s guidance is one of the surest ways to figure that out. And whether or not the call makes sense, we learn to trust that we will understand more in time, that all will be well and everything will work out as it should.
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As my last blog post for 2016, what I most want to leave you with as we head into a new year is this simple message:
I’ll be following my heart to Southeast Asia this winter…
I hope you choose the path that most calls to you.
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Sending you so many blessings for a vibrant and thriving new year! Let’s make M A G I C happen in 2017!!
With inspiration & love,
Diana xx
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