Follow your Heart and you Follow your Purpose

We all want to live a life of purpose.  But, we hesitate when someone says to ‘follow your heart’.  Why is that?  Is the calling of our hearts too pie in the sky for us?  Is it the little voice of self-doubt that’s whispering to us that it’ll never happen?  And, why do we get conflicting messages from the world?  In one breathe you can get ‘you can do anything!’ mixed in with ‘don’t be ridiculous, get a real job’.  How do we follow our heart through this life with such resistance!  How do we learn to trust our own inner voice, our own inner guidance system?

1. Know What you Want

It’s easy to say follow your heart but quite often we’re not even sure what that means or what it looks like.  We’ve been derailed by life and first need to find our way back onto our perfectly aligned tracks.  So, it’s time to ask a few questions.  What would feel like a knife to the heart if you couldn’t do it EVER again in your life?  What makes you feel abundant and blessed and ‘in the zone’ in life?  Allow yourself to dream.  To step into that daringly imaginative utopia in your mind.  Just for a minute.  If everything always went your way, and you could have anything you wanted, what do you really want?  Be honest with yourself here because this is where we hide from our hearts desire.

Now, let me be clear on one thing.  While I’m asking you to dream big to get to the truth of what you truly desire from this one life, I am in no way under the illusion that you ‘pick’ a dream and everything falls into your lap.  On the contrary, I believe a dream is by its nature something you fight for.  Fight, that is, with faith.  With undying faith and commitment.  Once you know the truth in your heart, you never look back.  It becomes your only option because, despite the difficult day, you know there is no other way to live other than to be true to yourself.  We’re talking about a dream that is worth the: wait, effort, up’s and downs of life.

2. Know Why you Want it

Ok, so I mentioned that feeling of utter dread at the idea of being without this said thing, and that’s an indication of the why, but give me more!  What impact would it have for you if you follow your heart on this one big dream?  What impact would it have on your family?  Why do you really want this?  How does it make you feel when you imagine this being your reality?  I know, so many questions!

I want you to imagine becoming clear on your purpose, on what you want to achieve in this life, on the legacy you want to leave.  And then, imagine walking away from that to go back to your desk job.  Could you do it?  Could you know the truth in your heart and walk away?  This is true purpose, this is what it means to follow your heart.  Our purpose has a way of making its voice heard.  I believe we ALL know our purpose if we just stop shying away from the ‘largeness’ of it and embrace it.  So, what is it for you?

3. Know How to Get it

Again, a little bit of what you don’t want to hear.  Our dreams want commitment before they materialize.  We don’t snap our fingers or wave our wands.  What we do is find a sense of certainty and knowing in ourselves that will help us steer our ship in the right direction.  This means we might have to work during the day and build a business at night, or attend night classes.  It means knowing that your dreams for your future are worth the effort and the time you are putting in.  It means that to follow your dreams you see the value in each stage of growth and each lesson you learn.

Take baby steps towards your goals and know that it doesn’t matter how long it takes, it matters that you are committed to it.  When your why is strong enough you live from a place of knowing.  You know that even if you’re knocked down 9 times, you’ll get up 10 because your why is that important to you.  It sounds awful, doesn’t it!  But, no it’s not because you are fueled by something bigger than yourself and it keeps you going.  You listen for the clues in your heart and you follow them.  Sign up for a course, hire a coach, start a podcast.  As Rumi says, ‘As you start to walk on the way, the way appears’.  In other words, you don’t need all the answers at the outset!  You only need to follow your heart and see where it takes you.

4. Know How to Believe in it

Rumi was referring to faith, and I believe that faith is at the very heart of the matter (sorry, couldn’t resist).  Our lives have great purpose, yet we struggle to have faith in this purpose.  I know, we’re all kind of living life with a ‘once bitten twice shy’ attitude, but we have to get beyond our scaped knees and keep running!  While we wallow in self pity about something that didn’t go well in the past: a relationship, a business deal, a result of some kind, our today’s are wasting away and our tomorrows cannot bloom.  And, just as the flower blooms on faith, so should we.

What if we stopped for a moment and asked ourselves this question.  What if I was meant to be happy?  What If I was the only thing standing in my way?  What if all the things I was worried would happen never ever will?  And, last question, what do we have to lose by believing in good?  Believing in ourselves!  Tonight, before you close your eyes, remember that this day is now behind you and all opportunities that it came with are behind you.  Don’t be sad, just notice the gift that each day is and go to sleep dreaming about all that you can achieve if you follow your heart and put everything you have into tomorrow!

Steph x

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