We all know the feeling of having to make a decision that perhaps is not obvious as to what we will choose to do. Our logic may seem to dictate an option yet sometimes we feel something that makes us not want to choose that particular option. We say we have a gut feeling. This sensation can equally pull us toward something that our logic may find questionable. And sometimes we feel that the decisions we need to take are completely overwhelming as we just don’t know what to do. So what options do we have?
Remembering our minds are like computers they make a great assistant. So we can ask our organic Siri to help us when we face a decision we need to make and are unsure or completely in a frenzy as we really don’t know what to do. The classical approach is to make 2 lists on a piece of paper: Pros and cons. List them all - mind thinks of all of the good things it knows about the situation and all of the bad things it knows. But do you see the implication here - there is an assumption that all that can be known is available for mind to access. It’s like asking a computer to calculate something using information that it can’t access. That means the perspective of the logical lists is limited.
Anyway we stare at our fabulous lists and usually logic will naturally find one option better than the others. And yet we still sometimes don’t feel sure.
There is another option to make a decision when we really don’t know what to do or it’s very important to make the best decision possible. Through Heart practise and our connection with the spiritual Heart we can ask Heart to help us make a choice. By placing our hands on the spiritual Heart and connecting we can offer our dilemma to that divine space. Heart answers with a sense of knowing. And you will know that you know ;-) Sometimes what Heart says may be the opposite of the logic lists we have created earlier. This is because Heart has access to everything - it is unlimited knowing. Mind is limited to its programs.
In order to do this we need to find the stillness within the mental spinning of thoughts and turbulences. We achieve this through regular daily practise.
To illustrate a Heart vs mind decision making moment let me share a true story with you. I went to visit my mother and she opened the door telling me she was unwell and couldn’t breathe and saying something was wrong with her heart. I was worried. We called an ambulance and they took her to St Mary’s hospital. We stayed in the A&E for 12 hours whilst the doctors were frantically trying to figure out what was wrong. They suspected all kinds of things yet my mother’s heart rate kept rising and her blood values were indicating a heart attack despite her not having one. They kept her overnight and I went home, still not knowing what was wrong. The next day the hospital called me and said they she needed to be moved to another hospital where they have the cardiology unit to find out what was wrong. But they said there were no free beds available! So my mum would have to wait and it could be days. And it was a Saturday. And her heart rate wasn’t coming down. I was terrified. I cried. And then this happened:
Mind: OMG my mother might die if I don’t help her. What shall I do?
Heart: Be still. Don’t do anything.
Mind: My mother has private health insurance. I must find a hospital for her to go to now. Who do I know? Let me see I need to message everyone I know if they have a Heart specialist they can recommend. But what if I take her out of the NHS and it’s not a heart problem? Then there might not be another specialist for whatever else she has. And what if the doctors are not working over the weekend? And and and…
Heart: Be still. Don’t do anything.
Mind: Let me call everyone who’s opinion I value to see what they suggest I should do. What kind of a daughter am I anyway, I need to do something!
Heart: Be still.
Hours and hours later… the phone rings… they found a bed for my mum at the hospital and the ambulance was transferring her there and I could go meet her in the cardio unit! I rushed there and within an hour they figured out exactly what was wrong. The specialist doctor was a highly confident young man who made us feel completely at ease and he took my mum into surgery right then and there. I stayed in the waiting room in Heart meditation and a couple of hours later the surgery was finished, it was a success. Two hours later my mum was able to walk and the next day they discharged her and she walked out of the hospital with me.
Heart knew all along that this was going to happen. The right time, the right place. Mind could have made some crazy decisions.
There is one more aspect to consider. How do you trust that knowing of the Heart? People who have silenced this voice for a long time may find it difficult to hear it let alone listen to it. All I can say is keep practising connecting with the Heart through meditation. And then you’ll just know. No one can tell you which voice or sensation to follow. You yourself need to experience what is real for you. In my story above I didn’t abandon my practise. I still did my Heart meditation first thing in the morning, throughout the day and at the hospital. It helps others around you too, not just yourself. My mum despite being a bit confused sometimes had extreme clarity in that moment where she had to make a choice about being operated on. She knew exactly what she felt was best, I felt it and the doctor too. There was no wavering from anyone. Mind of course had one or two thoughts to share about risks etc. but I still “knew” the operation was the right choice.
Don’t try to conceptualise this “knowing”. It needs to be experienced. And this is where thought based logic differs to Heart knowledge. Logic needs to be justified. Knowing is just there.
If you have any Heart knowing stories to share I would love to hear from you!
Hearts love,
Yamuna xx
