Message 8 (cont'd): My Experiences in Listening to My Heart

Back in late May, I made a pledge to live a year listening to, and following, the voice of my "heart" rather than blindly doing what my brain told me I should do. I knew from experience that the voice of knowledge in my brain didn't often bring me happiness or put me on a "good" path. In fact, that voice of knowledge often led me down roads that I wish now I had not taken, or asked me to close doors that in hindsight I would have been better off walking though.

"Crow Medicine" - In many Native American traditions, crows were thought to be Spirit's messengers.


Some may call this heart-voice our intuition, others may call it the voice of the Divine. Whatever it is, listening to what it's telling me is a different approach to living than I have allowed myself in the past. While I haven't abandoned logic or reasoning, I do make a real effort to put much more weight on the guidance of my heart or intuition now.

So what's happened in the first four months of my grand experiment?

Well, nothing terribly spectacular has happened yet, but I feel deeply that my life is on a good path. I'm much happier with myself and my life's direction, I have less stress about my daily life and my future, and I don't really worry anymore. Some of this is probably due to meeting my Maker back in January, but I think most is from knowing that my heart-centered decisions are now in alignment with who I really am at my core.

If I have an opportunity put in front of me now, I think about whether it feels "right" for me to pursue it. If it does feel right and no one is going to get hurt, I do it. An example of this is a recent incident with a dangerous hunting situation here in Colorado. I felt deeply that I needed to get involved, that I needed to write something that might prompt the state to make some changes to hunting laws. So I wrote a blog article that turned into a formal petition. As a result of this heart-centered effort, I met many new, cool people that I would not have met. One of them is a pro-hunting attorney and ethics instructor who will use my writeup of this incident in an upcoming "train-the-trainer" book (a book meant to train hunters' safety instructors). His concern, and the concern of a lot of other hunters in his circle, mirrored mine and we're coming together to (we hope) make hunting safer for everyone in Colorado.

Would I have done something like this in the past? I can honestly say that no, I would not have gotten involved with such a potentially volatile situation. I would have been terrified of making waves, of shedding light on a law that needed to be changed, of being noticed, and for speaking from my heart and mind.

In the last four months, I've also noted that my artistic creativity and productivity have skyrocketed. My heart-centered decision to leave my technical job freed up my creative muse to go crazy, in a good way! I can't wait to get to the easel every day, ideas flow effortlessly (so many that I can't keep up), and my "craft" of painting is better than it's ever been. Many more opportunities related to my art are flowing to me easily and more quickly than I ever would have imagined - perhaps because I am living more in alignment with who I was meant to be.

And overall, I notice that I am more open, more buoyant, and, well, just plain happier. What's not to like about that?

More details, including my thoughts, are in the book: Awakenings from the Light.



All content copyright Nancy Rynes, 2014. Please read disclaimer and Legal Notes here.