Living From the Heart

Living From the Heart

by Katherine Hughes

I tend to over think things…I’ll pause here to let those who know me well finish laughing.  I have feelings but I tend to trust my brain more than my heart when it comes to making decisions. I guess I am not proud of some decisions that I have made that were made from emotions.  So I stopped listening to and following my heart. But what I have learned is that all my fears come from my mind. I am not advocating turning your brain off and only listening to your heart, but I do think that your heart knows you better than your brain. Your brain knows a lot of stuff that can distract you and confuse you, but your heart knows you.   

“The heart lives in the far more bloody and magnificent realities of living and dying and loving and hating. That’s why those who live from their minds are detached from life. Things don’t seem to touch them very much; they puzzle at the way others are so affected by life, and they conclude others are emotional and unstable. Meanwhile, those who live from the heart find those who live from the mind…unavailable.” (Waking the Dead John Eldredge, page 42)   

I have lived my life as one giant pendulum from heart to mind. I have been unavailable, I have made that choice to not love, to not feel, to not be vulnerable… And conversely have been so open that I have surprised people with details of my past (nothing you all don’t know now, if you’ve read my blog). I have learned from being open and living from the heart that I am much more alive in that place, but the fears that live in my head cause me to try to protect myself, and I can swing back to the unavailable person again – this is a person so sheltered she is afraid to live.

 ”Our deepest thoughts are held in our hearts” (Waking the Dead John Eldredge,page 45)

“…the heart is the dwelling place of our true beliefs.” (Waking the Dead John Eldredge,page 46) 

“Loving requires a heart alive and awake and free.” (Waking the Dead John Eldredge,page 48)

“you must look with all your heart…you must remain present to your heart…you must listen with you heart…love with all your heart. You cannot be the person God meant you to be, and you cannot live the life he meant you to live, unless you live from the heart.” (page 49)

I have felt the fullest and the most alive in the moments that I have let my heart speak. Those are the moments that I like and love the person that I am – the person God meant me to be.

 ”without your heart you cannot have life” (Waking the Dead John Eldredge,page 52) 

DUH! Right?

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