Follow Your Heart
Pug says, “Follow your heart for therein lies the truth.”
It’s a simple piece of advice, and yet sometimes difficult to practice. But that’s exactly what’s called for to master an inspired life - practice. The practice of listening to the small voice that lies deep within each of us, within our hearts.
Mine called to me to leave behind the people in my life who were not supportive of my decision to change my life in moving 1,500 miles away from the place I’d called home for over two decades.
Some were friends, some merely acquaintances but all shared an interesting dynamic; they were negative and at times actively discouraged me.
“You’re crazy for moving, what if you get sick? Who will take care of you?”
“What if someone breaks into your house in the middle of the night?”
“There are 20 foot snakes that live under the houses down there and birds, some as big as you.”
At first these comments were disturbing, why would people who claim to care for me be so cruel, but quickly these interpretations of what would become of me became humorous especially when I dug a little deeper into the possible reasons behind this negativity.
Maybe they’re jealous of my new adventure or the courage it takes to make changes. Maybe they’ll miss my company and don’t know how to express their sadness. Maybe they don’t like losing control. Maybe my move upsets the well defined and perfectly orchestrated world they’ve created for themselves; a world in which nothing changes and life is just a matter of floating without direction from one end of the day to the next. Maybe they’re scared to death that they’ll never be able to follow their own dreams. Or create dreams. Or even dare to dream.
Whatever the reason, it’s become apparent they’re operating out of fear whereas I chose to be fearless (which is really just facing fear with faith). They chose to see the negative and all that could go wrong. I see a wonderful new opportunity.
Living in a positive attitude has provided me with everything I need to make my dreams come true. That and hard work, lots of hard and wonderfully enriching, soul transforming work.
The question remains, as I step forward into this new life, what do I do with these naysayers? I have two choices. I can maintain a friendship limiting contact and amount of information shared or I can wish them well and say goodbye. But is it really a friendship when we censor our joys and dreams and ambitions for the sake of another or is that being nursemaid to the terminally unhealthy.
Somewhere I read that friendship “is about two growing, open, honest people coming together to help each other be their best selves”. I like that definition so much that I printed it out and it now hangs over a doorway in my home. Over another doorway is “Dreams Come True”. And still another carries this message from an unknown author, “A great life is born in the soul, grown in the mind, and lived in the heart.” Nowhere in there do I see a snake or an intruder.
My wish for you today is that you follow your own heart, your own path to your own inspired life because it is in this truth where you’ll find your own endless joy.
“Follow your heart for therein lies the truth.”
- From the Pug adventure, Pug’s Car (The OINC Karmen Ghia), page 53
http://www.amazon.com/Pug-Beach-Island-Dogs-Reflections/dp/0974448400
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The above photo is of the entrance to my new home on the beach.
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