Follow Your Heart

As the cycle of life turns, we are continually offered moments to pause, reflect, and begin anew. These transitions are sacred invitations to align with the flow of life and consciously create our path forward. Whether it’s the start of a new year, the dawn of a fresh season, or simply a moment of inner clarity, new beginnings are fertile ground for intention and transformation.

As a new year begins, we are gifted with a fresh canvas—a sacred opportunity to realign with our deepest truths and create intentions for the arc of the seasons to come. While resolutions may come and go, the invitation to follow your heart endures, offering a profound path to authenticity and fulfilment.

I want to talk a little about why following your heart matters. The heart is more than a physical organ; it is the seat of intuition, love, and innermost wisdom. When we follow our hearts, we honour our true selves and create a life that feels deeply aligned and meaningful. It is not always the easiest path, but it is the one most alive with possibility.

Interdisciplinary studies show compelling results that the seed of consciousness lies in the heart, not the brain.  While mainstream neuroscience focuses on the brain as the primary organ of consciousness, interdisciplinary research, which combines multiple approaches to study complex questions, provides a holistic view that a single field might not be able to fully address.

For example, research by the HeartMath Institute integrates neuroscience, cardiology and psychology to study how the heart and brain interact to influence consciousness, emotions and decision-making.  Their results highlight the heart’s role as a complex organ with its own brain called the cardiac nervous system. They found that the heart sends more signals to the brain than the brain sends to the heart, influencing emotional processing, decision-making, and cognitive function.

The heart also generates a powerful electromagnetic field that can be measured with various sensor technologies that show how the heart communicates nonverbally with both the brain and its environment to suggest a powerful mechanism for how the heart influences our perception and consciousness.

Many spiritual traditions, including Tantra Yoga, Vedanta, and Taoism, also regard the heart as the seat of consciousness or the soul. For example, the Anahata (Heart) Chakra in yogic traditions is associated with love, intuition, and higher consciousness.  Ancient Egyptian texts, like the Book of the Dead, depict the heart as the seat of judgment and the essence of a person’s identity.  And in Christian mysticism, the heart is often referred to as the centre of divine presence or “Christ consciousness.”

I invite you now to connect with your heart in deep appreciation for how it guides you in a divinely intuitive way.  Connecting to the heart is as easy as bringing your awareness to that area of your body.  Where your awareness goes your energy will follow.  Other practices you can use to nourish your connection to your heart are:

Daily Stillness: Begin each day with a few moments of silence. Place your hands over your heart and ask, “What does my heart long for today?” Listen from a non-judgemental and unconditional love place.

Body Awareness: Notice how your body feels when making decisions. The heart often communicates through sensations of expansion or contraction, signalling alignment or misalignment.  One practice I love from Jasmuheen, a beautiful woman who lives on source energy alone, is to stand with your feet hip distance apart and take a few breaths to relax and centre yourself.  Ask a question related to the decision you are making in a yes or no format. If your body sways forward the answer is yes.  If your body sways backwards the answer is no.   

This is a form of kinesiology, that allows you to receive answers directly from your heart and bypasses the brain’s thinking and analysis functions that can sometimes cloud judgement or create self-doubt.   

Journaling is another great tool to listen to the messages your heart holds for you.  You can do this by writing freely about your dreams, desires, and feelings. Let your heart guide your pen or fingers on the keyboard, revealing truths that may surprise you.

Listening to Your Inner Wisdom

An important part of building trust to follow your heart to your desired outcome is by learning to listen. In the hustle of daily life, the quiet voice of the heart can often be drowned out by noise, fear, or external expectations. Yet, this voice is always there, waiting patiently for you to tune in.  In my experience tuning into the subtler messages from within takes a regular practice in stillness and quiet.  When we still the body and focus on our breath, we invite the mind to become quiet and the divine intuition of the heart to be heard.

As someone who is highly intuitive, I receive a lot of information and have had to learn how to discern which voices to listen to as things can get busy when I’m open to receive.  What I’ve had to learn how to do this through trial and error, so I hope what I will share now will help you to find your path more quickly with minimal bumps in the road.  What I’ve learned is that the voice of inner wisdom, connected to the heart is one that comes from deep within, not from an external source. 

For example, if I get an idea or impulse that comes from a place that does not feel embodied within me, I will pause to honour the information but will wait to act until it feels like it comes from the inside out. 

This is sometimes described as gut knowing, which is an instinctual, deeply rooted sense of truth or direction that arises from within, bypassing logical reasoning or external validation. It is a felt sense, a visceral, bodily experience, where clarity emerges without needing extensive analysis or explanation.

Overcoming Fear and Resistance

Following your heart often means stepping into the unknown, which can feel intimidating. Fear and resistance are completely natural but do not need to become obstacles on your path.  need not be obstacles. Instead, they can become guides, pointing to areas of growth and transformation.

Acknowledge Fear: Name your fears and bring them into the light. Often, the act of acknowledgement lessens their power.  I like to visualise writing fears on a balloon and letting it go into the sky.

Take Small Steps: You don’t need to leap into the unknown. Gentle, conscious actions made from a place of calm and centred connection with your heart will build confidence and momentum.  Focus on the next step in front of you rather than needing to get full clarity on the final destination.  Each path begins with the first stepping stone.  Let each step be filled with courageous curiosity and heartfelt gratitude.

Seek Support: Surround yourself with people who encourage and uplift you to help you stay grounded and inspired.  If you get caught in a roller coaster of fears, seek the counsel of a skilled therapist who can help you keep perspective, clear old fears and transform them into empowering resources that support a stronger, safer foundation.

In my 1:1 work with clients, the Family Constellation and Holistic NLP work features strongly at the fear stage in being able to open up fully to trusting their heart’s intuition.  As we open up to trust in the unknown, a frightened heart will sometimes guide us back to the familiar patterns trying to seek comfort.  We also seek comfort in expressing our ancestral entanglements by choosing a harder path to try to stay loyal and belong to our family soul to try to stay safe.  Family Constellations are a sacred and powerful tool to realise the truth in our connection to our family, which is that the way to help our family soul is to embody our life force energy fully by setting down the burden we carry from our lineage.

Holistic NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) helps to support this release by revising limiting beliefs associated with safety to empowering ones that bring forward a sense of unwavering grounding and self-empowerment.

Trusting the Journey

Following your heart is not about achieving a fixed outcome but about living in alignment with your essence. Trust that as you listen, love, and take steps forward, the path will unfold in ways that are uniquely perfect for you.

Let this new year be a time of courage and commitment to the whispers of your heart. With every choice you make, you are creating a life imbued with truth, love, and joy. How will you honour your heart’s calling this year?

Place one or both hands gently over your heart. Feel the warmth of your touch and the rhythm of your heartbeat. Begin to tune in to the subtle sensations here: pulsing, a quiet rhythm, or simply the feeling of presence.

As you breathe, silently ask your heart: What truth do you hold for me in this moment?
Wait patiently, allowing any words, images, or feelings to arise without judgment.

Following the Path of Your Heart

Picture yourself standing at the beginning of a new path this new year. Notice how it feels to step forward, guided by the wisdom of your heart. Trust this inner compass to lead you toward what is true and fulfilling.

As you walk this path in your mind’s eye, visualize moments of connection, love, and joy unfolding before you. See yourself meeting challenges with courage and grace, always returning to the guidance of your heart.

Affirming Your Intention

Bring to mind one word or phrase that captures your heart’s deepest desire for this new year. It could be “truth,” “courage,” “abundance,” or any quality that resonates with you. Silently or softly repeat this word to yourself, letting it anchor into your heart and your being.