What It Truly Means to Follow Your Heart
This sounds a bit cliche in today's society. Follow your heart? Sure thing, buddy. Every single person reading this post knows exactly what I am talking about, though. Each one of us has felt this at some point in our lives. The real question I have is, how often are you actually following what your heart is telling you? What It Truly Means to Follow Your Heart is my interpretation on this whole concept.
Sounds insane, right?
I know what you're thinking, Pete is going hippie on us. Call it whatever you want, I think people are happier when they follow whatever is deep down inside them. This is what I ultimately want. I want people to be happier. End of story.
Everywhere I explore, I see a handful or more of visually miserable people. Working a job they don't want to work, for a house they spend barely any time in. But how can this change? It all starts with following what it is you really want to do in life. What do you need in order to figure that out?
Gaining a relationship with yourself
This is something that is enveloped in fear lately. The fear of being alone at any point in life, means we don't have the capacity to figure ourselves out. What it is we really enjoy, versus what is it we find joy in experiencing with others. There is a big difference between those two!
Take yourself out somewhere fun. Observe the thoughts you have while you are sitting in a restaurant alone. If you can handle not taking your phone out and really feeling this, even better! The more you can feel what it is like to just be with yourself, the quicker you can build this relationship.
What benefits does this have?
My understanding is, once you have created this relationship with yourself, the surrounding world does not affect you as easily. You realize that no matter what goes on around you, you have yourself to lean back on. How amazing of a feeling is it to be utterly confident in yourself during a stressful situation! The fact of the matter is, when you gain a relationship with yourself, you realize the external problems trying to infiltrate this strength, can be held at bay with ease.
The result? You quickly bounce back from something that could have devastated you for much longer before you did all this work.
Actually listening...
In order to gain this relationship with yourself, you have to trust in your gut! It is a really interesting knowledge to gain when a situation feels right or wrong. A few friends are inviting you out for the night, but something really doesn't feel right? You could go out and party that feeling away, or you could just listen to it. The choice is ultimately yours.
It is my experience that building this tolerance, rising above pressure (both external and internal), and listening to yourself actually makes a person happier. Why? Because you are no longer succumbing to the validating arguments in your head or others around you. You are listening to YOURSELF, and at the end of the day how could you not be proud of doing such a thing?
Rising above fear
This is probably the most important piece of listening to your heart. My observations of people around me, and even myself, have been this. We all deep down KNOW what it is we should do. Then? We go right ahead and do the total opposite. There are memes out the wha-zoo for this idea. They are a hit because they are true! Everyone resonates with this concept, and I'm sure you have experienced this a time or three.
How about giving this a shot? Next time your initial reaction to a situation or choice arises, follow it! We tend to overanalyze things to the point of getting confused with what we should do. If you take that first feeling you get about something and go with it, the worst that could happen is you are wrong. No big deal! Keep trying this, and experimenting with yourself and the emotions that arise. Eventually, you will get to a point where as long as you are following your heart, you will not be bothered by the outcome.
Following your heart while traveling
I cannot explain the amount of times I have been confronted with a situation on the road, and have to make a decision on what I want to do. This is one of the biggest reasons for my travels. To increase my understanding of myself and my heart. Building this relationship with myself means to gain a better understanding of what it truly feels like following my gut instinct.
It has only been 3 months on the road, and my relationship with myself has increased significantly. It can be hard, at times, to really sit with yourself and observe the emotions that arise. While on the road traveling alone, you really have no other choice. This is just one of the million ways you can gain a better understanding of yourself. Whichever one of the million you choose? You will eventually find What It Truly Means to Follow Your Heart.
'Til next time,
Pete - A Traveling Teacher