Living from the Heart… But What Is It, Really?

“Live from your heart.” It sounds simple, maybe even beautiful… but if you’ve ever been hurt, if openness has ever cost you something, then you know, it’s not always that easy.

In this episode, I slow this idea down and really sit with it. What does it actually mean to live from your heart in a real, human life? Not in theory, not in a quote, but in the moments where you feel guarded, overwhelmed, or unsure if it’s even safe to open.

We explore how the mind steps in to protect you, why that’s not a flaw but an intelligent adaptation, and how over time it can become the place you live instead of something that supports you. I also share a perspective on the heart as its own form of intelligence, one that communicates through feeling, resonance, and a quiet kind of knowing.

This episode includes a gentle guided visualization to help you reconnect with your heart space, not by forcing openness, but by becoming reacquainted with what’s already within you.

Because living from the heart isn’t about choosing between being open or being protected…

it’s about learning how to be both.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Hi everybody. Welcome back to my podcast. Today, the thought that popped into my head was this. The idea of living from your heart. I keep noticing just how easy it is to say that, and honestly, how complicated it actually feels to live it. Because on the surface, it sounds super simple, right? Be open, be loving, be heart-centered, or at least that's what I think when I think of, you know, living from my heart. But if you've ever really truly been hurt, if being open has ever really cost you something, if maybe trusting someone has ever left you picking yourself back up, then living from your heart doesn't necessarily feel super soft, does it? It feels risky. It doesn't feel very comfortable. So I've been asking myself, what does it actually mean to live from the heart? And more importantly, how do you even live from your heart and still feel protected? Because here's the thing. I think a lot of us learn that at some point those two things just don't go together. You're either open or you're safe, right? But what if that's not actually true? Because a lot of us didn't choose to leave our heart. We adapted, we learned, your mind stepped in. It started analyzing, anticipating, reading people, preparing for what might happen next. It's not necessarily a flaw, it's intelligence. But over time, that can become your default. Not just something you use, but something or somewhere you live, right? There's a difference between using your mind to support your heart and using your mind to protect yourself from your heart. One creates alignment and the other creates a distance. Across a lot of spiritual teachings, the heart has always been described as something deeper than emotion. It's truth, it's perception, it's knowing. And something I really, really appreciate in some teachings, like when this one that I came across from Lee Harris, is how the heart is described as intelligence, a guidance system, and the way it communicates through resonance, not through overthinking, not through convincing, just resonance, right? You just resonate. You feel expansion or contraction. Not a yes or no necessarily, just expansion or contraction. Something feels open or it feels tight. That clarity doesn't always come with words. Even your body supports this. Your heart isn't just pumping blood, it's communicating with your brain constantly. And when your system is regulated, your heart and your mind actually work better together. You don't lose logic, you gain clarity, right? But if your system learned that openness wasn't safe, such as mine, right? My system learned that at a very young age, then of course your heart doesn't feel like home. It might feel unfamiliar or quiet or even uncomfortable. Because at some point being open didn't feel protected. So instead of forcing yourself to be more heart-centered, what if you just got reacquainted with it? Right? Maybe without pressure, without pushing yourself. So I want to invite you to join me for this little exercise of the mind and the heart. You can take this or leave this, whatever feels right for you. I would say don't do it while you're driving or doing something. I would say just if you're if you're not in the space where you can just take a minute for yourself and focus on yourself, then maybe come back to it later. Okay. So if you feel okay to do so, just close your eyes, take a slow deep breath in, and then exhale gently. Now I want you to imagine an elevator door appears in front of you. It feels familiar, comfortable, safe. The door opens and you step inside. Now, side note, for those of you who are, you know, don't feel good with elevators, just imagine a doorway with steps instead. Okay? Inside there's a button, and on that button, there's the image of a heart. Go ahead and press it. The elevator begins to move gently downward, no rush, just a soft descent. And when it stops, the door slowly opens. In front of you is a hallway. There's a soft, surreal glow, a peaceful, dim light guiding the way. In the distance, you see a door. And there's something about it. It's glowing, it's inviting you. It feels familiar. You walk toward it. As you reach it, you gently open the door. And as it opens, this beautiful white light just surrounds you. Like a soft mist. Warm, expansive. You take a step inside. And something in you recognizes this place. Not because it's new, but because it's familiar. This is your heart space. This energy that you're feeling is your heart energy. You don't have to do anything here. Just be. Let yourself remain here for a few moments. Let yourself take it in. The comfort, the beauty, the steadiness, the safety.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Let yourself become familiar with it again.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

This, my friends, is where you come back to your essence, to your power, to your wisdom. And I want you to just notice something. This space, it's protected. Not because it's closed, but because it's yours. And the more you give your attention to it, the more you build a relationship with it, the stronger you become not harder, stronger. Stronger in a way where you can move through life with openness and stability at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Take one more breath here. When you're ready, gently begin to come back.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

There's no rush. Come back to the elevator. And when you get to the elevator, just click on the brain button. And you can come back to your brain. It's okay. And we're not meant to live in our head all the time. We're meant to be doing this beautiful balance, this beautiful dance. We can consult with the heart. We can consult with the brain.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

It doesn't have to be either or.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Living from your heart isn't really about forcing yourself to be open all the time. It's about knowing that you have a place within you. That it's steady, that is clear, that is yours. And again, living from the heart doesn't mean that you're there all the time, right? Sometimes we have to live in the brain. It's there for a reason. But we don't have to shut our heart out and just live from the brain. That's exhausting. You know, the majority of our energy comes from our heart. Your heart gives direction. Your mind supports the path. They work together. Let them work together. You don't have to choose between being open and being protected. You get to be both. And maybe the real shift is this: you're not learning how to become someone new. You're remembering how to come home and where home is. So it's coming home to a part of you that's been there the whole time, just waiting for you. And from that place, you don't have to brace. You just have to move forward. And you will feel more aligned coming from that space. And I know, you know, this is hard. And it took me a really long time to realize what this actually meant. Now I actively tune into my heart. I actually ask my body to allow myself to come from the heart. And I can tell the difference. I can tell the difference in myself when I come from the heart or when I come from the brain. I can tell the difference with others when they're coming from the brain and not the heart. You know, our heart is wise, way much wiser than our brain is. But we gotta learn to trust it. And we gotta learn that just because we live from our heart doesn't mean that we're not safe, that we're not protected. Bad things happen. Things happen all the time. But we can survive it, and we can keep coming back to the heart, and we can work through it, combining the brain and the heart. We don't have to be afraid of the heart. Alright, friends. I hope this was helpful for you. And I guess I will talk to you next week. Have a wonderful, wonderful week. Bye, friends.