Trust Your Heart Or Gut?

Monday, 05 February 2024 Written by Hope Fitzgerald

Greetings, Wavy One!

Welcome to February!

I was on a call with a client recently and we got on the topic of whether to follow her heart or her gut, and it got me thinking that a little clarification is needed...

I remember years ago when I'd hear that phrase, "Follow your heart," I'd wonder what the heck that really meant... was I supposed to just do whatever my feelings were telling me? Because that didn't usually take me down the best paths (thinking about poor choices of boyfriends - can you relate?)

Then there was "Trust your gut," which was more about discerning what some inner guidance was trying to tell me. Kind of vague and hard to separate from my feelings. 

Eventually, partially thanks to dowsing, I learned the distinction between what was emotion (heart) and what was guidance (gut). And as I played with them, I began to grasp what those phrases had meant all along.

Eileen Caddy used to say, "Listen to the still, small voice within" so I started leaning into trust as I became more and more sensitive to my inner voices and urgings - and acted upon them. It took a while, but I found that when I surrendered into being led by something other than my head, the most interesting, serendipitous things happened.

As you might guess, I came to the realization that it wasn't either heart or gut, but a classic "Yes, And..." situation. For me, heart and gut together create what I understand as intuition.

I believe that our intuition - heart and gut instinct - is what presents us with what's next on our evolutionary journey.

And when we add the creative action of the mind into the mix, we may even end up with a calling (though often the mind is the last to recognize what's right in front of us!). Ultimately, the mind must release its cozy seat of control and move into curiosity about what the intuition is suggesting, or there will be inner conflict.

I've had several wanderings in my life that at the time felt like innocently following my hunches, only to be astonished when I look back on them to find I've been moved around on the chessboard of life specifically in order to satisfy a higher purpose that apparently I was requesting. Who knew?! I'm sure you've had similar experiences... 

Case in point, this whole Nepal project that's emerged for me was initially the result of a heart connection - you can't be in the presence of those wonderful kids and NOT feel the love.

After that was the concern about what would happen to the older kids when they left the homes - still heart, but gut was moving in because I (and my traveling companions) literally couldn't stomach the idea of those pure beings being taken advantage of in the big unstable world outside their safe cocoons.

Following the intuition (heart and gut), the mind asked, "What can I do, if anything?" And, BOOM, the next thing I knew, I had a new calling! 

It was easy and ... surprising. I never would have expected that I'd be championing 40+ Nepali orphans, but it feels so right, exciting, and possible that it just HAS to happen. All systems GO!

So, this February, the month of HEART, let's see "where love guides you" (a favorite phrase of my friend, Dr Clint Rogers).

• What sets your heart on fire? 
• What is tugging at you to go in a certain direction? 
• What action can you take that feels lively to your mind?

Much love and infinite blessings,
Hope

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