Our Heart and Mind

I have been reading several books and posts on the heart-mind connection lately. What I have been reading is life-changing and empowering.

What I have been learning since my exposure to workshops and seminars on personal transformation is that we are all born complete--we all have within ourselves the capacity to have healthy relationships with ourselves and others as well as the capacity to achieve our dreams, be whoever we want to be and have whatever we want to have. It is what happens to us in the course of our life that this power disappears and gets buried within us. It is still there--it is just waiting to be discovered. Those who have already found it are living their dreams and having the time of their lives and succeeding, not just in their personal relationships but in their financial relationships as well.

What does this have to do with our heart and mind? What I am learning is that within our heart lies our spirit or soul. This is nothing new to us. We learned this in school as Catholics but sometimes we take it for granted. As human beings we are made up of soul and body. We learn that when we die, it is our souls that will live on.

What I have learned is that our mind protects our soul from painful experiences. When we experience situations that hurt us, our mind comes to the rescue of our heart. In doing so, it buries our spirit or soul until such time that it is allowed to heal. Each time healing happens, parts of our soul recovers. We rediscover the joy of life.

How does this show up in our life? Sometimes something as mundane as being unable to speak our thoughts. Maybe we grew up in a household that frowned on children speaking up and airing their views. Sometimes this experience leaves the adult unable to stand up for himself. This is what happened to me. Slowly though I am healing from this. As a result, I have a better relationship with my family, I speak up when something is done to me that I do not like--my spirit feels joyful whenever I am able to speak up about something I do not like because that was never possible in the past.

What I am learning is that our soul can also help us now while we are alive. Our soul or our spirit which dwells within our heart can help us find our true selves in this journey of life. It is accessing our soul that we have to learn. It is learning to differentiate the voice of our mind from the voice of our soul that will empower us. It is accessing the beauty within us that will power our lives.