You open your eyes, sunlight streaming into the room, heart light and joyful. Your day flows smoothly from one stage to the next, ending in a feeling of satisfaction with life.
The next day, blearily dragging yourself from sleep, the vibe is radically changed. Outside the wind howls through the trees as grey clouds scrape across the sky. You’ve risen on the wrong side of the bed, a phrase that really means you’ve woken up as the beast, beauty has fled. The day jerks and falters, you’re clumsy and out of step with yourself, nothing flows to your immense frustration. Your mind babbles and curses, leaping from one topic to the next, skittish like a gazelle. You long for the end of the day and salvation in sleep.
We all know how to enjoy and utilise a day that breathes and flows. What to do with the days that don’t?
The heart knows. The human heart sends more signals to the brain, than travel the other way. The electromagnetic field of your heart is 5000 times stronger than that of the brain and extends up to 3 feet from your body.Your heart contains neurons, has a memory and influences your emotional state. According to Dr Rollin McCraty Phd from the Institute of HeartMath, intuition is received by the heart, which sends a signal to the brain, which triggers the body, ie. gut feeling. The heart also has its own complex nervous system.
The heart is a truly remarkable organ. So what does that have to do with your crappy day?
When you wake on a day destined to drag, drudge and droop, take a few moments to check in with your heart. Place a hand on your heart and begin breathing into the energy field of the heart. You will feel warmth in your hand when you have made a connection. Ask your heart about what is bothering you. Ask your heart for some insight for your day. Ask your heart whatever question your mind is niggling at.
The heart always responds simply and clearly. You only have to listen. You may see pictures or ‘hear’ words, but there will be a simple response. Amazingly, if you are experiencing difficult emotions, the response from your heart will often cause those emotions to dissipate, leaving you clearer. If you follow the advice of your heart, even if your mind disagrees, you will find yourself much closer to a state of equilibrium. You may not convert your day into one of those smooth sailers, but it will certainly unfold with more grace and ease.
Following this practice also benefits those around you, as they are also influenced by the electromagnetic field of your heart. All the wisdom you could ever need, lies within you. Crappy day navigation is in your hands!
For more on the amazing attributes of your heart check this out.
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Hi Pollyanna, what you’ve written is important and true! And is backed up completely by the work that NLP Master Trainer Marvin Oka and I have been doing related to both intuition and gut/heart wisdom.
Informed by recent Neuroscience findings about the discovery of functional and complex neural networks or ‘brains’ in the heart and gut, we’ve completed 2.5 years of behavioral modeling research on the core competencies of these brains and how they communicate and integrate with the head brain. We’ve written about our findings and the models and techniques in our recently published book ‘mBraining’. See http://www.mbraining.com for more info.
For example, one of the many things we’ve uncovered in our work is that much of intuition is processed in both the heart and gut brains, and indeed the gut brain goes through a sleeping cycle each night that mimics and integrates with the equivalent of the head brain. When the head brain is dreaming during REM sleep, the gut brain is undergoing RGM (Rapid Gut Movement) sleep. The research indicates that it is during these periods, that intuitions are being communicated from the gut and heart, via the vagus channels, to the head. There are lots of distinctions and techniques that come out of these insights, and match completely what you’ve been writing and talking about in your posts.
I hope you find this backup to your own work as fascinating as we do.
best wishes, Grant
Hi Grant
Thanks for your comment. I do find it very fascinating. We have underestimated the importance of the body for so long, but I believe it is an amazingly powerful tool for so many aspects of life, not just a vehicle for operating out of!! I will check out your research. Thanks again x
Hey Pollyanna, thanks, totally and fully agree with you. There is an amazing distributed intelligence(ing) in the whole mind/body or as maybe we should more accurately put it, bodymind. I hope you find our work as fascinating as a growing number of people around the world are doing. And you’re so right, its not about a process of doing, but a way of being that liberates the human spirit, and that’s what has emerged from our models and research.
smiles and great wishes
Grant