WORDS: SUZANA MIHAJLOVIC, FOUNDER & HEAD SUCCESS COACH
“You heart knows” they say. Or, in other words “Follow Your Heart”. To some these words resonate deeply, they are absolute truth. To others, they are nothing but romanticised fiction. But what if I was to tell you there is no fiction in these statements?
So many of us have been conditioned to only “think” from the intellect. Yes, this is important. We have an intellect for a reason. To use it. However, when we miss the deep intelligence of our hearts, we miss living a complete and fulfilling life. We miss using a huge part of our potential.
The wonder and miraculous truths about the heart have been studied since the 1800s yet we have not managed to pass down the deeper functions and importance of the heart. Even though our greatest intellects, like Nikola Tesla and Albert Einstein and our greatest business leaders, like Steve Jobs have attributed their great success to the heart, or to following intuition, this power has still been undermined. It is time to change this.
Did know that your heart sends more messages to your brain that what your brain sends elsewhere? Some even call the heart “our first brain”. There is so much study done on the heart and it seems that the more we study the deeper functions of the heart, the more marvels are found.
Let’s just talk about one function of the heart for the purpose of this article – and that is the heart as your intuitive centre. Research by the HeartMath Institute shows that there are three types of intuition – Implicit Knowledge, Energetic Sensitivity, and Non Local intuition.
Implicit Knowledge (or implicit learning) refers to something that we have learnt in the past and have either forgotten or did not know that we had learnt it. For example, when we are working on a problem or challenge that initially we do not know how to solve but after pondering it or letting it go for a while, the answer to the problem seems to appear. This is because our subconscious is working on it and might have the information stored.
Energetic Sensitivity is the second type of intuition. It is the ability to sense changes or information in our environment. Have you ever sensed that someone was staring at you only to look around and find that there was someone staring directly at you? Evidence shows that this type of intuition is real (HeartMath Institute).
The third type of intuition is called NonLocal intuition. I remember when I was living in Japan many years ago. I woke up about five o’clock in the morning feeling very sick, I was vomiting and had contracted a terrible stomach virus. Shortly after I woke up in this dire state, my father, who was in Australia, called me and immediately asked what was wrong with me. Without me mentioning a word about feeling sick, my father had intuitively known that I was not well even though I was physically located half way around the world. This is Non Local intuition. This type of intuition is when we sense something or know something that cannot be explained by past knowledge or sensing something in the environment.
So, if our greatest intellects, like Tesla and Einstein have attributed their success to following their intuition and now we have scientific evidence of the power of intuition, how do we tap into it? According to the HeartMath Institute, developing and maintaining heart coherence will help you tap into your hearts wisdom and intuition. Heart coherence will also help you:
- Become more resilient when challenges arrive
- Perform at an optimal level because your heart and brain are functioning in harmony
- Activate your parasympathetic nervous system – which leads to a start of calm and peace, and
- Tap into your intuition (as well as strengthen it).
Dedicating a few minutes consistently and regularly throughout your day can help enormously. Here is a very simple evidence based breathing technique developed by the HeartMath Institute that will help you get more coherent. It is called the ‘Heart-focused Breathing Technique’.
Focus your attention on the area of your heart. Imagine your breath is flowing in and out of your heart or chest area, breathing a little slower and deeper than usual. Find an easy rhythm that’s comfortable.
I invite you to practice this very simple technique as often as possible. Whenever you need it as well as when you do not need it. Look back after a month and you will notice that you are calmer, more present and also that your marvellous heart is talking to you, it is guiding you and it knows answers that your brain might not be able to work out.
Following your heart can no longer be considered fiction because the scientific evidence states that it is not fiction. In my coaching sessions, as a Certified HeartMath consultant, I have seen significant improvements in my client’s business and personal lives by developing heart-brain coherence.
Here is a little guide for you to incorporate heart coherence with a goal or dream.
- Decide what you want. What is your goal?
- Develop a clear picture or image of what that goal would look like for you.
- Feel like the person who has that goal.
- Practice the Heart-Focused Breathing technique
- Take consistent daily action to move you closer to goal.
If you do these steps consistently, you will eventually see your goal move from fiction to a reality. This is what you call ‘stronger than fiction’.
Let’s Do This!
