Tag Archives: Listen To Your Heart

22

Managing Your Soul

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Feelings and emotions are a huge part of the human experience. How well we learn to manage our souls will determine how well we live and what we can create in our lives, yet, we have created a system of education that teaches all people who participate in the basics of math, science, reading, and writing, etc.

We are not teaching how to deal with our emotions and what they mean in our lives as our thoughts run through our minds and bring with them connected emotions. Anger, love, sadness, joy, happiness, disappointment, or any other emotion you experience will be a part of life at some point. As a society, we ignore our feelings and assume they will pass on their own. Emotions are the messages we have from our soul, telling us what it needs. Listen.

Call To Action

It has been my experience; trying to live your life with as little emotion as possible is easier. I would try to keep myself in situations where I could control the emotional needs I might have and never allow my feelings to become too much for me. Doing this kept people at a distance and never let anyone into my life in a way where they could harm me. Unfortunately, I found this sort of life was not very satisfying in the long run, and denying the opportunity to develop emotions causes harm to you as well.

Each of us is made of three parts, 1. body, 2. mind, and 3. spirit. It is number 3 we are concerned with here because just as your body loves to exercise and your brain likes to learn and develop thought, your soul also yearns for new experiences and growth. If you deny it through a perceived pattern of control, your soul will see things change and give you a chance to grow. That has meant I have been thrust into situations I feel inadequate to handle emotionally. This call to action has been a painful way to learn, and it has been effective.

How to Listen

It is easy to let your thoughts carry you away. They roll through your mind, this way and that. Feelings are deceiving, though. They are confusing and contradictory. We get confused, overthink things, and listen to many of the same ideas repeatedly. It is like a recording playing on a continuous loop. Our soul and emotional language are much more subtle and difficult to hear and understand. I hope as I practice thinking, I can master the process. The trick is to see past your mind and realize it is a powerful tool you can use, but it isn’t you, and it isn’t who you are.

Look into yourself, and you will see something deeper existing there. Something on the inside you have known is there but has ignored. This entity is your soul, and it is the force inside you uniquely you and allows your song to enter the world. Astonishingly, we don’t work harder to enable and help more people find this part of themselves. We live in a society trying to provide cookie-cutter lives to wildly creative souls. No wonder many people feel they don’t fit in and have to turn to any vice they can find to feel good. We use drugs, food, sex, shopping, alcohol, or anything else to bring a little feeling of “good” into our lives. The joke is there is a well of powerful emotions lying just below the surface of our lives, and with the direction, I think it can come out helpfully and creatively.

Fear is the Thing

The villain in life is always going to be fear. It is fear that stops us from trying to be celebrated in anything we attempt. Fear of failure. Fear of what someone else may think. Fear of success. Fear of being alone. Fear of death. Fear of being hurt. Fear of looking weak. There are a lot of ways to experience anxiety. Everyone must deal with stress continually throughout life, no matter what they do. If you conquer your old fears, new ones will come into your life and bring a new direction to your life. So it would make sense to understand where fear comes from and how you can manage it because it is the positive management of fear that will determine how successful you will be.

Fear will not harm you. It never does. Danger can harm you; being aware of that danger is a proper survival technique. But fear is just a thought in your mind, which has as much power as you give it with your thoughts and behaviors. Recognize and be honest about the fear in your life and how it is limiting you. The cure for all anxiety is action. Even though things will not always happen as you plan or would like them to be, they do work out. Once you know the answer, there is nothing left to fear in that situation. Take action and overcome the feelings of fear. Life will continually provide you with opportunities to do just that.

Embrace Your Emotions

This advice is complex for me to follow because I have had such a rocky relationship with my own emotions. But repressing them because of perceived weakness is a stop-gap and, at worst, a detriment to allowing the best version of yourself to come forward. I am trying not to look at my emotions as anything negative. They are not a sign of weakness or a detriment to accomplishment. They are a part of the human experience, which are valuable communications from your soul telling you what you need in life and how close your current actions and decisions are moving you toward the place you should be.

Take some time today to understand what your emotions are guiding you to do. This path can appear through finding a way to still the mind and let your inner voice rise through the veil of emotions you feel. One great way to do this is to immerse yourself in an activity of creativity. Drawing, painting, carving, writing, or whatever creative outlet consumes you will allow you to occupy your conscious mind and bring your subliminal messages to rise to the surface. It is in these messages your guidance will come to you. Meditation is another practice that our society has a well-established fear of experiencing. It is merely a way to calm your mind and allow you to hear the messages of your heart. That is all it is. Anyone against it is operating from a platform of ignorance or fear. Don’t be ignorant or fearful, and give meditation of some sort a try.

Start to practice ways to listen to your emotions and follow the guidance they are giving you. Move away from the messages of your mind and see the path that was always there in your soul.

“The living soul of man, once conscious of its power, cannot be quelled.” –Horace Mann

“A beautiful woman delights the eye; a wise woman, the understanding; a pure one, the soul.” —Minna Antrim

“The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it – basically because you feel good, very good when you are near or with them.” —Charles Bukowski

“Go to the people and the places that set a spark in your soul.” —Anonymous

“If only our eyes saw souls instead of bodies, how different our ideals of beauty would be.”

“Beauty attracts heart, but character attracts the soul.” –Sindhu Vishnu

“Always trust your instincts; they are messages from your soul; they are that inner part of you That strives to make you whole.” — Anonymous

“Love is the beauty of the soul.” —Saint Augustine

“Follow your soul. It knows the way.” —- Anonymous

“Whatever’s good for your soul, do that.” —-Anonymous

 

22

It Goes Around

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What Goes Around Comes Around 

Finding motivation for new topics can be difficult, and sometimes it is just downright challenging.  Living in Maine, there are a lot of inspirations; natural beauty, people, and space all can contribute.   Yet the great thoughts I have

Much of what I learn from other bloggers.
Whatever power gets YOU through the day!!

been exposed to through reading and the quest for knowledge can fuel the fire of creativity.  Below are some of the motivations I have been lucky enough to be exposed to. Mindfulness, listening, facing fear, and what goes around comes back to you. What you send out to the world in your thoughts and your actions does reappear in your life, leading to some of my most exciting writing. Sometimes the return is terrific, but sometimes the exciting part is we get back exactly what we deserve. Live your life in selfishness, never thinking of anyone but yourself, and you will find those things as a part of your experience. Here are a few ideas to find the creative mojo we need to express ourselves.

Mindfulness is Important

mindfulnessI can lose focus on what I am currently doing in so many ways. Sometimes my mind runs back into the mist of the past. Just as often, it is pulled forward into the fantasy of what may come. But the future is uncertain at best, and the past is over, can’t be changed, and is probably open to many different interpretations.

Still more taxing to my mind is the practice of trying to do 12 things at once, and I lose focus on enjoying whatever I am doing in the name of a hurry.  All of the things that I accomplished today, I was careful to do each one at a time, or at least when I caught myself doing something and thinking about something else, I re-focused on the task at hand.   I got all of the studies done better and completed them quicker.

One of the great things I read was all of the helpful exercises you can do to bring yourself back into the moment.  Meditation is an excellent practice for keeping your thoughts at bay and providing mindfulness to your day. Focusing on a simple mantra or just continually trying to concentrate on your breath will keep you at the moment. Your mind will drift away like a cloud on a breeze, but you can always bring your awareness back to the moment by merely realizing you lost your focus. This realization restores your conscious directive thought to the moment.  Mindfulness will also allow you to quiet the mind to listen to your heart.

Listen to Your heart.

Quiet the mind. listen carefully.
Quiet the mind. Listen carefully.

It doesn’t matter what your religion or philosophy is. As a human being living on the face of the Earth, you have to deal with the voices of your Ego. Without going into a lot of detail, this is the voice you often hear that tells you negative things about yourself. Its primary function is to keep you safe, but in doing that, it can provide devastating feedback and negative comments that destroy your self-esteem.

Today I was reminded that even though you may never be able to get rid of this part of yourself altogether, you can learn to listen to it less and less.  Through practice, you can recognize when these thoughts come to you.  Anytime you think, “I am not good enough” or “You most likely will fail.” Then you are listening to your ego. The alternative is to listen to your heart.

Your heart knows what is best for you and can answer any question because your heart is your connection to the universe.  The voice of the heart is not as loud as the ego. Much like it is difficult to hear sound advice with a siren screaming in your ear, the ego distracts and drowns out this voice you should be hearing.  It is always there, always has been, and always will be. You need to ask a question and be able to listen for the answer.

I do not want to be a cowardly lion.
I do not want to be a cowardly lion.

 Facing My Fear

I have had cause to reflect that no matter how much distance we have covered in life, there are still some fears that I need to address daily to be free of their influence.  It is the fear of worrying about what other people think of me.  How much that shyness affected me all of my life, and this is a daily battle every day.

I am sure others understand what I speak about, the feeling of just wanting to fit in and not stand out because then you might be afraid the world will notice all of your faults.   The side effect of this thought pattern is that you are so scared to let anyone see the real you, which is too much of a risk.  This fear can stop you from enjoying many things in life.

As you grow older and experience teaches you other lessons, you get to a point where you have to say to hell with all of that stuff. Be yourself. Some will like it, and some will not. That is the way life goes. At least when you close your eyes at night, you know that you have been the most honest version of yourself that you can be. We can’t do any better than that.

What Goes Around, Comes Back Around

goes aroundThis was a song by Justin Timberlake, and I was reminded that I do not have high respect for his acting ability, but more importantly, I remembered the truth of this phrase in life.

It is a karmic statement that what you put out into the world will come back to you, often with a bit of extra.  Most significantly, today, I was thinking about how we treat others.  If you lie to someone and mistreat them, then someone will most likely mistreat you.

Often we are so personally involved in the situations of our lives that we never notice this game in action until we take a step back and look at the whole game board. We can see the connection between our activities and the experiences we have.

I only know that I decide to be honest, kind, caring, and thoughtful because that is all I can control in life.

 To Move Forward, Leave the Past Behind You

This is a part of what I read today:

I wish you gone, dear memory,
I wish I didn’t have to remember every detail…..

I wish I could be free
Of the shackles that you have in me…..

I wish for forgiveness
I wish for it never to have happened….

forget pastI remembered how this felt.  We have all been there, a person is gone, and it is for good. There may have been good reasons, but a part remains even though they are gone. A longing for the past causes pain.   Eventually, we learn to move on and let it go; the shackles of that memory are loosed, and you find that love isn’t a prison sentence placing you in a memory cell. It is the power that sets you free.

Final Thought

Today I was struck by so much good writing and thought that I could have kept going, but I only have a bit of time to write.  Now my secret is out, and I get much of my motivation and inspiration from the people who create each day wonderfully! Each creator provides a garden of ideas and a playground for thought!

What other songs could I choose for this?

 

21

Your Heart

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“Everyone who has the will can hear their inner voice. It is within everyone.”  Gandhi

inner voiceToday I am particularly grateful for my inner voice and the fact that I am learning to listen to it. I have thousands of thoughts every day, and most are negative and repeats of things I have thought before. The challenge of this writing is to find the ability to quiet the mind and listen to the voice within, the heart message that will NEVER lead you wrong.  Take a trip down this road.

Turn Down the Noise

Each of our minds is a nonstop factory of thought.  New thoughts are being created in all of our waking hours, old thoughts being revisited, and other people’s thoughts being entertained. 002_InnerVoice_AR_241_pg247_600x480_Eleesha_Inspiration_Quote_Affirmation2 We can’t help but think, and it is the job of the mind.

But if you listen to what the thoughts tell you, many of them are petty, jealous, and judgmental of others but more importantly of ourselves.  We spend a lot of time making ourselves feel bad about our decisions in the past, where we are in life, and what we like to do.   If you entertain that voice and its thoughts, you will lack self-confidence and not think much of your abilities.  It is below all that noise that you have to look for the real voice you listen to.

Calm and Let Them Go

When I have a lot of work to do or need an answer that will be youare voicesomething that I can trust, I have to get by those thoughts and listen to the voice in my heart. But how can you get by the nonstop whir of your never-ending mind? That is the challenge to most great things.

Finding this voice is simple, but it isn’t easy.  You have to learn to let the incessant thoughts your mind is producing slide by you, notice them but then just let them go.  As you do this, you will find an increasing sense of quiet in your mind.  As the mind quiets, only then can the voice in your heart be heard. Focusing your mind on your breathing and choosing not to get involved in your thoughts is the thing that will free you.  It is in the stillness of the mind when your heart can be heard or rather felt.

I Don’t Know Who You Are

There is no advice I can give you about where this voice comes 097_Your_Inner_Voice_AR_96_pg111_600x480_Eleesha_Inspiration_Quote_Affirmationfrom, except to say that it comes from inside of me, and it has never been wrong.  My mind is often critical and judgmental. This voice has an understanding and always pushes for my greatest good.  When I see disaster on the outside, the voice gives me a less egoic perception of the situation, and I know it isn’t the end of the world. In fact, even a bad situation can lead to extraordinary growth and learning.  Heights can be reached, which otherwise would have been unavailable to you without a tough experience. Suffering is not a good thing, but it can bring good things. LISTEN.

No, you aren’t perfect, but this is how things will play out, and here is what you should do.  Always this voice chooses the path that is best for me, yet I still fight against it.  I think I know more and am more intelligent, but clearly, I am not.

Almost all of my failures and shortcomings in life have come when I let my conscious thoughts guide me over my intuition.  Do this because it is safe! Do that because it is expected!  Do those things you know because they are safe! What will people think?  Yet, it is the things that I haven’t done that will take me where I want and need to go. To find the purpose of my life.

Today, I am grateful for this voice inside me, and I hope that I have the will to listen to the voice and the courage to do what I hear from that voice in my heart. Sometimes having the faith to do what you have never done is the secret to everything.

Don’t be shy, just let your feelings roll on by.

 

 

 

 

Gratitude

Found My Voice

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my computer for expression
My computer allowed my voice to be heard. In much of my adult life, there was a voice inside of me that had no expression.  There were thoughts that were forced to lay dormant and unexpressed, feeling no life except for the minuscule moments that thought sparked a light on them, only to see them cast back into the darkness from which they so hopefully emerged.

My voice, for whatever reason, could not speak these thoughts or express the feelings I felt, for many years this was the way it was, until one day, I found that I had a voice.  This voice was not an uttered word, but a written one.

What an amazing liberation that was, to free these observations inside of me, about people, places, life, religion, hope, fear and everything else in between.

I have been grateful to relay my observations about other people and in doing so, observations about myself that needed to be expressed, needed to be shared, even if nobody ever read them, by offering them to the world on their own merit, at least they took a form outside of myself.

Many times I hbeing yourself expressing the truthave wondered what this sharing would lead to?  Anything? Are there others who think like me?  This voice of expression is honest and from the heart and it is truly me.  It feels sometimes when I write something about gratitude or feelings I feel free, totally free from all of the expectations and restraints of life and of others.

It should be easy to leave these behind, the negative voices in your head, to follow the true voice inside your heart.  Writing has allowed me to see this voice, hopefully someday soon

find your voice, gratitude
Have you found your voice?

it will help me to trust it.   As each day comes, I feel so much hope in my heart that this will be the day that magic happens for me.  Yet that is determined by me.

I am grateful for the ability to write and express what I feel inside myself.  Each small step to understanding life, or other people or the Universe and how we all work together is amazing and my vehicle for this exploration is my voice and that voice is to write what is inside my heart.

Being yourself is the scariest thing you can be because there is no facade to hide behind, the world can see you and judge you and that can be difficult.  Yet it is only in being ourselves that our true talents can show, I am grateful to at least be on the path to this truth.

 

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