So, I have another friend. She’s left the workaday world and headed off on an international adventure. This is exciting, even exhilarating, because the potentials seem endless. Anything, even her heartfelt desire, just might be possible.
But it also can be scary. So scary that in these circumstances we are all tempted to consider, as my friend is, returning to circumstances (in this case, a job) similar to those we have just mustered the courage to leave.
Stepping off the well-trodden path has its own challenges because it’s not always easy to see how things will turn out. All the normal signposts disappear, the horizon is empty, and it seems that we have to create something from nothing.
On the face of it this sort of soul venturing is both frightening and difficult, and it is what keeps many people within the safe confines of tradition, custom and habit. One must have a strong incentive to strike out alone this way.
From what I have observed, this incentive usually springs from an unquenchable desire to see what else is out there. It is only because this desire for the different and the unknown is so strong we find the courage to follow our dreams. It gets to a point where we just have to do it, our hearts won’t rest, until we do.
The leap from fear to fearlessness, from inertia to intrepid adventuring is only possible if we listen to our hearts. Our brains have very little to contribute in these matters.
Our heart, expressed and manifested in our feelings and emotions, creates the dream. It engenders the requisite desire and motivation in us and if we listen only to our heart, we will remain unafraid throughout the journey.
But then the brain intercedes, as it has been created to do. Our brains, in particular our left brain (the seat of our logic and rational thinking) raises all the questions our mother would ask. Where are you going, why, how are you going to get there, and most of all, how are you going to pay for it?
The brain is our most precious asset when it comes to survival. It is only by addressing these sorts of questions can we ever satisfy the brain to believe we can survive in any set of circumstances. But, and this is the most fundamental point to understand, the left brain is only about survival, and as such it is only happy when our physical survival is assured.
Or seems to be. Because let’s face it, our left brain has no idea how things will really turn out, it just draws a logical conclusion based on facts presented and combines it with past experience. It then “assumes” a certain outcome, but it has no way of predicting how happy we will be in the future, it can only tell us we have a good chance of physically surviving.
Don’t get me wrong. All these questions must be answered at some point. But what the brain doesn’t realize is that timing is everything. The Universe, if we allow it, will provide us with the ideas, the plan of action, even the inspiration to follow a certain course of action on a daily basis to ensure our safety, survival and well-being. But we must realize the Universe does not stockpile.
In the Biblical tradition, the manna fell from heaven each day to become food for the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. Similarly, Jesus exhorted us to take no thought for what we shall eat and what we shall put on, pointing to the birds and flowers “which neither toil nor spin” because they know the Universe provides bountifully each day.
This is the nature of the journey on the path of the heart. If we listen to our hearts, follow our intuition and allow nothing to derail us, all will be well (perhaps not easy - but then what is?). We will get all the information we need, all the signs, promptings and synchronous alignments of circumstances required not just for our mere survival but for our flourishing, our thriving and even our expansion into our true and full potential.
The left brain will only ever keep us chained to the predictable, the mundane, the routine. It has no role to play in creative expression, spiritual expansion or bliss. On the journey to our soul’s fulfillment, it is our heart, not our brain, that is our sure and faithful guide.
The longest journey in any life is not to the other side of the world and back. As Gregg Braden points out, it is in fact the journey from brain to heart. Although only 18 inches in length, it can take a lifetime to gain the courage, the faith and the trust to travel it.
