Listen to Your Heart

Listen to your heart...Lead with your heart...Follow your heart...we've all heard these phrases, usually in the form of sage wisdom and words of advice from friends and family. But these words are much more than just a sentimental notion. They actually represent something we're doing all the time - whether we're aware of it or not.

Whether you're looking into ancient earth wisdom or the new science of quantum physics, the heart is truly the center of our universe. You need to look no further than our own physical body. We cannot live without our heart; it is constantly working in the background, pumping literal lifeblood for all of the organs that sustain our bodies. But let's look a little deeper at the role the heart plays in our energetic bodies. How it connects us - not only with our divine essence, but with each other.

To understand this connection, we need to begin by understanding the energy that lies underneath and between the matter that makes us up. It's called the Zero Point Field or the Quantum Field in the science world; collective consciousness, the Holy Spirit, or Chi by theologians; it's the life force flowing through the universe, present and active in every moment, whether or not we can see it or are aware of it. It is the space from which all matter takes form. In her ground-breaking book, The Field, Lynn McTaggart describes research that shows the particles which make up matter are actually little "knots" of energy that briefly emerge and then disappear back into the underlying field, rapidly flickering between the manifest and the unmanifest state. A teacher of mine, RainbowHawk, referred to this space between the manifest and unmanifest as the shimmering. We are in constant contact with this underlying ocean of energy; in fact, we are constantly being created from it, emerging from it, every second of every day. Oh yeah - one more thing. At the very essence of these particles, they found photons. Light. So you could say, we're made up of light.

Photo by Nikolai Romanski of EGRD.net

At the risk of completely geeking out on you, there's one more point I want to bring forward about the field. This underlying of ocean of energy provides the stuff of creation for ALL of creation. We don't have our little domain that we draw from; we draw from the collective field of energy. We share that pool of energy with each and every other being, from human to rock to chair. We truly are connected with each other and all of creation. As the particles in this field come into contact with another, they pick up information, in the form of energy coding, about the other. In essence, the field is constantly imprinting a record of everything that ever was, Vast. Unlimited. Wisdom. Stored in the particles within our cells, the stuff that makes us up. Whoa.

So what does any of this have to do with listening to your heart? Well, heart cells are not only unique in their ability to pulsate and send blood coursing through our bodies to sustain life. They also generate a powerful electromagnetic field (there's that "f" word again...) that radiates out some twelve to fifteen feet beyond our physical body and is powerful enough to light a small electric light bulb! Who knew? This powerful electromagnetic field exists within the larger quantum or collective field, and research by the folks at HeartMath Institute shows us that our heart actually provides us with direct and constant access to that larger field.

The bottom line is, our hearts are the channel for this energy field, for the vast unlimited wisdom that we're constantly swimming in. Our hearts know the truth. Not the brain-truth, but the truth-truth. Because we are in human form, this energy/information gets routed through our brains - that's how we create an understanding, a physical experience, an emotional response to the energy that creates us. As Joseph Chilton Pearce states in his book The Biology of Transcendence, "Brain and body are fashioned to translate from the heart's frequency field the information for building our unique, individual world experience."

The heart, in addition to pumping our lifeblood and being a massive generator of and conduit for electromagnetic energy, is also a sort of a brain in it's own right. The ancient, earth wisdom traditions knew this. They speak of the Heart Mind, that place of deep inner knowing of truth. Not only personal truth, but truth that benefits the whole. The collective field. The study of neurocardiology has estimated that more than half of the cells of the heart are neurons, which function much like the neurons in our brain. In fact, the heart neurons are in direct communication with the brain.The brain receives this communication from the heart - this full, unlimited, vast (and probably completely overwhelming) ocean of information and energy, and then it filters it based on our beliefs and life experiences to only allow in that which we can handle. So yes, we're listening to our heart all of the time. And, truth is, we're often limiting the input from the collective field that comes to us via our heart by the complex filtering process taking place in our brains.

So if we want to have full access to the energies of our heart, we have to get past the bouncer at the door in our brain. To consciously listen to our heart, we have to find our way through the censors of our fears, our limiting beliefs, our pre-conceived ideas about the nature of the universe. Our brain serves some amazing functions. It allows us to have a physical and emotional experience of the energies moving through us. It selectively screens the vast, unbounded potential that exists in the field around us - which would likely overwhelm us if our brains would not determine what has relevance and what does not. And, it utilizes our life experiences to develop that screening ability. Our brain can open us to the vast potential, or slam the door shut to allow the smallest trickle to make it's way through.

We can adjust the screening mechanism by altering our beliefs, literally opening our minds to all potential, working through our fears. Even the tiniest change in this neural current exchange between the heart and the brain can bring a dramatic change to what we access from the field and, consequently, our experience of life.

Now that's a journey worth taking, isn't it?

So how do we work with this screening mechanism in our day to day life? There are so many different ways - anything that slows us down, gives us a moment to shift out of the rat-race that exists in our heads into the quiet space of the heart. The important thing is to find what works for you! Maybe it's prayer, or meditation, or a walk in nature. Maybe it's baking bread, or reading a book to your child - or yourself. Maybe it's as simple as realizing that we live inside of this field, are made up of this field, in fact. Maybe it's as simple as visualizing the images above, of how our own electromagnetic field radiates out from us. Twelve feet! Step into that image in your mind. Feel the connection with the larger field, with the whole. Simply take a moment to consciously shift your focus from your brain-mind to your heart-mind.

All we're really doing when we take these kinds of steps is touching in with what is - and always has been - happening all of the time. Bringing our conscious intention to the process allows us to have an experience of that connection. And it's a great experience to have.

A great way to connect in with yourself. And so much more.

A great way to follow your heart.