Are you being true to yourself? Do you listen to your soul?
I believe we are three-fold beings of body, mind and soul, but most people don´t share this view. Many people think they are their bodies, their names, their titles.
Why?
Because the body is something you can see, smell, touch, hear and taste.
It´s very real. Concrete.
Mind and soul, on the other hand, are abstract terms.
You can´t see the mind. You can´t see the soul.
In the 16th century the French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650) split body from mind. This split is often referred to as the Body-Mind Dualism.
For Descartes the human body and the human mind were discrete entities.
He believed the Universe was mechanical containing “physical parts”.
In such a mechanistic model abstract terms like mind and soul did not fit in. Body, however, could be examined and investigated like any other “part” of the mechanistic Universe.
As a result of the Body-Mind Dualism science has for the last 400 years been occupied with what can be seen and measured.
Matter and the physical world became the main focus. “Matter is all that matters”
The body fits well into this world of matter so it’s natural that many people think they are their bodies.
However, exciting cutting edge research is now discovering what spiritual people have been saying for a long time. The Universe is conscious. Consciousness is at the base of everything.
We all belong to this “field of consciousness”. We are really unique “points of consciousness” – what many spiritual people refer to as souls.
You don’t have a soul. Your are a soul. You don’t have consciousness – you are consciousness.
And as a soul you know everything. There is nothing to learn. Earth is not a school. It’s a place to experience the knowing.
The body is your vessel. The soul is part of who you are and can guide you, but it requires “paying attention”.
How?
By listening to that inner voice – that inner feeling. By getting in touch with your heart because the heart has intuitive intelligence as shown in scientific studies by the non-profit organization Heartmath.
Through your heart you can “pick up” the messages from your soul, but most people don´t do that. Their ego is too strong and shuts down these intuitive messages coming from your soul.
The Egyptians taught that the heart was the seat of the soul. The ancient Hindus according to the teachings of the Veda, also believe that the soul is located in the heart.
And now we have research showing us that the heart has intuitive intelligence.
So, the heart is key.
In order to live a great and fulfilled life we only need to listen to our hearts – something Steve Jobs understood when he said:
“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
It´s all about being true to yourself. Listen to yourself – not to what the external world is telling you is “right”.
Many people live a life of expectations. So did I – for 40 years. I didn´t follow my heart until I turned 40 years old. Today I´m 52 – so for the past 12 years I have been true to myself. I´m listening to my heart and it makes all the difference.
You enrich your life when you are true to yourself – when you come from the heart.
The funny thing is that living from the heart is our “default setting”.
When we are kids growing up we live very much from the heart, but as we grow older this changes. We start listening to what the external world is telling us – we let the intellect and the ego run our lives.
We become less heart-based as this picture illustrates:
I loved being a kid and living from the heart, but as I grew older this feeling slowly faded away. More responsibility. Becoming an adult. I stopped listening to my heart.
I made this video about being true to yourself and living more from the heart.
Hope you will enjoy it.
