Every individual life is a gift to the tapestry that adds to the beauty of the world as we know it. Every human, animal and plant has a purpose to fulfill, and once that purpose has been met, we simply move on to what’s to come. As we move from one stage of life to another, we come across different people and experiences that finally add on to make our journey more fruitful. Some experiences and people add joy, some may add despair but what’s the most important to understand is that each provides a lesson. There are a number of beliefs about what happens on the other side of this life, and in the search to find the truth, we miss the journey completely.
As we advance from stage to stage, we can feel ourselves change. This is the true validation to the statement that ‘change is the only constant.’ Nothing really does last forever, not even our views, dreams and perspectives. At some point something happens that causes, if not a drastic change, a minor alteration. Being aware of this fact is actually one of the most humbling experiences, and this awareness is not easy to come by. It takes years of deep self-reflection and work. Why? Because, being human, one of the most automatic responses we make is that of self-preservation. How could we be wrong? It’s impossible right? How can our view be the wrong one? I have always felt this way. These and many more are some of the arguments our mind keeps having when we are faced with an alternative way of thinking. In that moment, at that moment we refuse to see that another perspective could hold any truth, and yet, if the source brings the exactly same information, we readily accept.
The actual secret to a happy life, the actual art of living, comes when we master what I’d like to call the Heart of living. What is the Heart of Living? Well in the most basic of explanations, it is living to the beat of your heart. Allowing the heart to be heard through all the noise the head is making. When we talk about listening to the head, we are speaking about logic which is extremely important.
The logical side of a human, is the side that encourages him/her to persevere and work hard, the side that pushes him/her to use his resources to find and capture success, the side that is quick and shrewd and helps him/her to climb in life from one rung to the other, eventually reaching each set goal. Sometimes the best thing to do is listen to the head because it keeps you out of trouble. But what is life without a bit of risk? What is life without emotion? What is life without heart?
Listening to your heart is listening to feeling. Knowing, understanding and accepting feelings. Feelings that are yours and those that are not. The heart is the side of us that makes us think about others. That part that says ‘yeah that’s great I have amassed a lot, why not give some back?’ it is the part of us that encourages us to live a little more, to take a risk and probably let ourselves be taken by the tide. The side of us that let’s go of the little things and realises that there is much more to life than being right all the time. It might be the head that attracts hearts but it is the heart that keeps other hearts.
Today, we have given too much importance to logic. When we let that part of us out more often, we also let out its little dangerous friend called the ‘ego’. The ego is the death to every relationship. Everywhere it comes out it destroys something in its wake. The ego is that part of us that refuses to see things from another point of view. We all have it lurking in the depths of us, the best way to keep it at bay is to allow ourselves to quieten it down. Doing this isn’t easy. Very few of us have reached that level of ultimate self-actualisation to be able to ignore the presence of our ego.
The next best option, is do not allow yourself the opportunity to let the ego express itself. If you feel like you are entering a situation that will elicit an ego filled response, walk in the other direction. There is only so much time we have been given, why allow ourselves to be overridden and plagued with negativity. Not everyone who started the journey with you has promised to be there till the end. Not everyone who gets on at various stages is obliged to stick along. When we do feel like our egos find it difficult to contain themselves, we need to let go. Sometimes of ego itself, at others it could be the situation or person.
When we live with our hearts we run the risk of getting overly emotional, and there’s nothing wrong with that because we are lucky to also have along our minds. This life is a wonderful experience. Live it with your mind, but balance it with your heart.
