Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Oct/Nov 2014 - Featuring Louise Hay | Page 61

The heart is the GPS of the soul. Similar to the way a GPS gives us driving directions, the heart directs us on our soul’s path using coordinates based on spirit’s connection to source. It is because the heart’s energy transmissions bypass the brain that we to let your guard down,” “If you take that risk, you’ll get hurt,” or “Don’t confide in anyone, because they’ll let you down.” All such negative messages produce a lack of trust in ourselves and our own experiences. By contrast, our hearts give us information from an expanded perspective that can guide us without judgment, negativity, or criticism and give added clarity to assist us in making more discerning choices. To channel this invaluable spiritual information, it is important to allow our minds to recede and focus on our hearts. In shifting perspective from the mind to the heart, we create an inner harmonic balance. For example, when we swim, our brain focuses on our strokes, pace, or the distance we have traveled. Once we let go of keeping track of this activity, our focus shifts to our hearts, allowing us to swim with less self- When we listen to our hearts, we live with passion and purpose and feel a sense of alignment with our higher selves. receive spiritual information to guide us. We all have the ability to sense such information whether it’s a gut feeling, an “aha” moment, or an inner knowing. Unlike our hearts, our analytical brains are similar to computers that scan, store, and retrieve data from the past but cannot tap into spiritual information. Such data collected by the brain takes the form of negative mindsets, beliefs, and patterns stored on the brain’s “hard drive,” such as “Be careful not consciousness in a meditative, rhythmic manner. To reap the benefits of this reservoir of spiritual information, we must develop and strengthen our ability to listen to our hearts. One way to develop this capacity is to sit in a quiet place and enter a trancelike state through breathing, prayer, or meditation; open the heart by touching it, breathing through it, or saying, “Open my heart;” then listen to the voice of spirit speaking to us. 61 WISDOM & SELF-GROWTH We can use spiritual information as guidance even while exercising the freedom to choose our life’s path. In the fifth century BC, Socrates and Plato supported the premise that there is an individual spirit and a collective soul, and that when the spirit leaves the body it continues on to the environment of the soul. Consequently, the soul is an energetic environment like the air we breathe, a pure consciousness that everyone can access. Through the energetic connection of spirit to soul, spirit can guide us while allowing us the freedom to choose our life’s path, and soul can provide us with a blank screen on which to imprint our choices in every moment.