Living Life to Its Fullest Part 6

December 18, 2024

​​​​​​​Living Life to Its Fullest Part 6

To live your life to its fullest, we follow our heart and listen to our soul. That sounds like simple advice but it’s not so easy to implement. Following our heart means understanding the Heart Center of Intelligence and discerning the impressions it gives us. 

Following the heart means being true to our emotional self—but what is our emotional self and is it the same as our feelings? Our emotional self, our heart, encompasses more than our feelings. It has the intelligence for emotional survival and thriving. The heart leads us to the people we need. We thrive emotionally by having close attachments that affirm our being, our worthiness, and our desirability. In these attachments, we affirm others’ beings, their worthiness, and desirability. The profound attachment and reciprocity within these relationships help bring us to the fullness of our lives.

There are two primary obstacles that can block access to our heart’s intelligence. The first is the ego’s distortion of what our heart tells us. It can misinterpret what we need and the people we need. For example, the heart may tell us that our current relationship is not working. Then the ego hijacks the issue and says, “This relationship is not working, I’m leaving it for someone else.” But the heart may very much need the relationship and desire the healing of its problems instead of leaving it.

The second obstacle is the repression of heartfelt emotion. Repression is an ego defense mechanism; it is the ego’s way of “protecting” us from paying attention to those things and people that do not fit into its narrative. When we repress our heart’s emotions, we channel its energy in other directions about which we are often unconscious. Unconscious energy leads to unconscious behavior and its unwanted consequences. An example is the continuance of a relationship that causes harmful and addictive behaviors, even though the heart tells us that we suffer because of it.

The ego represses the heart’s expression because the relationship gets the ego ahead socially and economically. Following our heart first requires considering and entertaining our emotions without judgment repression or distortion. The soul child does this by experiencing pure, honest, and raw emotion. The conscious adult starts there but through discernment realizes what needs these emotions represent. Then it expresses them in healthy ways.

Spiritual Practice: Is there a heart’s desire you refuse to entertain? Give it some honest consideration and find what soul desire it may represent. How can you express this desire in a way that brings healing and wholeness?

Self-inquiry: Why do you want to live life to its fullest?

Dear God,

Give me access to my heart and soul. They are your creations. Amen