Honestly, have a good look in the mirror and ask yourself if your heart and your mind are truly aligned together. Are you having heart to mind talks on a regular basis? Do you allow your head to hear your heart and what it really wants and needs every day? Do you know the true values that represent who you are?
Unfortunately, there are many people who are not able to do this. Actually, there are more than a few people who look in the mirror and no longer recognize themselves. They are lost in life. Excellent at going through the motions. Superb at being safe. Satisfied with what they have achieved. Inside though, in the quiet of their minds, they are numb. They have become so good at turning off the signals that their heart is trying to tell them that they are pros at maintaining the status quo. Look around you. Look at the people you love, the people you work with, your neighbours….just look. Guaranteed you will see people who have lost their way in the world and as a result they have checked out of their life….literally. They are just living day to day.
Today, I can admit I recently came very close to this same place in my own life. I became very good at doing what I needed to do. I managed. I was responsible. I was effective. As a result, slowly over time I began to disconnect my mind from my heart. Not all at once, but a little at first and then a lot more day by day. Why? Hard to say. Probably for many reasons – life, work, family and much more. The truth is that I too started to become very good at going through the day to day motions. Actually, I excelled at it. I did it because it was easy. It was safe. Most of all it required little commitment to my heart and as such it became increasingly simple to let go of the things that mattered the most to me. To just not worry about what it all really meant. Lucky for me though, somewhere inside my heart, I knew that my mind needed a wake up call. Not just a little one either but a really big one. I knew if I allowed myself to take the easy way out for any longer the game would be over. Safe would have won. Comfortable would mean the best of what was yet to come would be no longer. Even worse, the amazing technicolor dreams of my heart would be gone forever.
As a result of all of this, I did what I had to do. I did what was right. I forced my mind to listen to the signals my heart was sending. At first those signals were quiet but then over time they became louder and louder. At last, I came to a place of recognizing that I needed to stand up and claim my life. Actually claim it….own it. Put a stake in the ground and say this is who I am, what I stand for and where I am going. I knew that I needed to start living my life according to the true person that is within my heart…nothing more and certainly nothing less.
Now I recognize that there will be people who will see this post and think that perhaps I been reading a few too many self help books or that all of this sounds a little crazy. I assure you this is not the case. Not at all. What has happened is that I have come to a place in my life where I now understand that time stands still for no one. Not you. Not me. I now know that we all come into this world with a heart that can do amazing things…if we let it lead the way. All we have to do is listen and stop ourselves from living our life on autopilot because it is safe. We need to let go of the fears that we have within ourselves and simply accept that there is nothing more important than aligning our heart with our mind and ultimately our actions. I now know, that by truly doing this there is nothing to fear….nothing at all. Nothing I can’t handle will happen. Life is good and meant to be lived. My plan is to do this, each and every day. I will be fully present, fully engaged and fully connected to what truly matters in my heart. I know that the strength and opportunities that will come from that level of commitment to myself are endless. I also know there are other people in the world who also lead from the heart. Actually, there are a lot of them and we will attract one another and do amazingly, cool things together.
I am totally clear about who I am and where I am going. I am no longer worried about tomorrow. I’m also working hard to let go of second guessing myself. I fully embrace today and tomorrow. I plan to move forward in 2012 with an aligned heart and mind. I am 100% ready to live, laugh and earn by building connections, facilitating conversations and leading change to make the world a much better place. I will do this in my work, in my family, in my play and in the many ways that I live my life each and every day. It is exactly why I am here and is what is right for both my heart AND my mind.
When you look in the mirror do you see your true self? Are your mind and heart fully aligned or are you just going through the motions?