Summary:
The Great Deception of Following Your Heart
1. Your heart (spirit) is the source of all your thoughts, feelings, and actions — and it can be very deceiving.
2. To make sure you’re on the right path, learn the Truth about who you are, what you were created for, and how to live that truth.
3. Recognize that both your heart and mind need training to recognize what’s powerful and true and what’s shiny and deceptive.
4. Practice observing your thoughts and feelings and learn to recognize when they feel strong but are leading you in the wrong direction.
5. Learn to listen and feel more, talk and do less.
“So think as if your every thought were to be etched in fire upon the sky for all and everything to see. For so, in truth, it is.” – Mikhail Naimy
I’m sitting on a patio at Press Coffee in Gilbert, Arizona enjoying the warm sun. I came to Phoenix to study with Dr. Debbie Crews (Sport psychology professor, ASU/LPGA Hall of Fame golf instructor) and Judi Adams (US Olympic archer). Just finished the two day Better Your Best mental cross-training workshop/retreat. It was powerful.
As part of the program we did archery, horsemanship, and golf. We also did virtual reality where I was taken in an elevator up a hi-rise and asked to step out onto a plank overlooking the skyscrapers of a big city. My body was telling me “Don’t do it!” but I knew for sure that I was standing on solid ground. My mind wanted to agree with my body, “No Jim!”
I had to override my strong thoughts and feelings to accomplish the task.
Have you ever felt the incongruency of what you know to be true and what you feel? Ever felt so nervous in performance, so uncertain about the outcome, or if you should even try this task, when you know you’ve done it flawlessly before?
Sometimes we need to learn to override what our entire being is telling us and focus on the truth about who we are and what’s possible in this moment of our lives.
So often we hear “follow your heart,” and Inner Excellence is about leading with your heart. It’s super important, however, to recognize that your heart can deceive you and take you down the completely wrong path.
We need to train our hearts. We train our hearts with our minds. We do this through study, practice, and observance.
How to follow your heart
1. Realize that your heart and mind can deceive you, even lie to you. Don’t believe everything you think and feel.
2. Recognize that we believe what we want to believe, especially in relationships. We evaluate ourselves by our intentions and others by their behaviors. As you now know IX principle #2…
Everyone does the best they can with what they have in their hearts.
3. Your mind will often trick you into thinking that this next achievement, experience or possession will satisfy your heart. Deep contentment doesn’t come from any of those things–it comes from living your singular purpose. Your mind and heart will always tempt you into chasing whatever’s the latest and shiniest thing to get better feelings.
4. Start your study with these two books: The Way of the Heart and Life of the Beloved, both by Henri Nouwen, the Dutch professor and theologian who taught at Yale, Harvard and Notre Dame. These are the two most gifted books I’ve shared besides the other one about living the best possible life.
5. Listen to another podcast I did, this time with O’Brien MacMahon on his People Business podcast. O’Brien did his research and had some very insightful questions. It will help you get learn more about your heart.
Let me know how it goes!
Love Jim
PS.
Thanks again for those of you who took a moment to give an Amazon review! If you haven’t, would you mind taking 5 seconds to click on this link and give it your star rating, or if you have 55 seconds, give it a written review as well. Thank you!
If you haven’t read Stewart Cink’s (British Open winner and two-time winner on the PGA tour last year) 7 Tips for Success yet, check it out here: Stewart Cink on golf.com.
PPS.
Update on my life: I’ll be joining forces with former Olympic Cyclist Guy East and YWAM Homes of Hope to lead an Inner Excellence house-building retreat Dec. 27-30, 2021 in Tijuana, Mexico. Super powerful for your whole family. No experience necessary. Likely will change your life. Fly in to San Diego on the 27th and we’ll pick you up. More info to come. 🙂