I’ve been reflecting on the choice to live from heart, lead from heart and speak from heart. What does that mean? What does it look like? What empowers a person to choose that? What does one have to let go of to enable that? What are the possible outcomes? Why does it matter?

Let’s start with the last question first, because that’s the point of this whole article. 

Why does heart matter?

I believe there is no power greater than heart. The essence that is “heart” moves the world and all beings in it. Heart involves connecting with your authentic self where all of your positive, life-affirming values, beliefs and aspirations live, and aligning your choices, actions and overall way of life with those. This is where your true power and greatest fulfillment lie. 

Living, leading and speaking from heart also enable you to have your deepest impact. You create environments where others feel heard, encouraged and appreciated, even when constructive criticism is necessary. You are believable and credible because your audiences experience your authenticity. You generate trust which encourages them to take inspired action.

We are often brought to this from our life experiences. I’ve had a number of clients who have chosen to step forward with their messages as speakers and leaders out of a desire to move from heart. One who comes to mind was formerly a CEO of a nonprofit supporting at-risk children to heal and live productive lives. While this person had created a lot of abundance in their life, they had not been encouraged to believe in themselves early on. They took on this challenge and transformed it into a powerful message that resulted in hugely successful fundraising results to support the organization’s programs. They moved from heart and made a remarkable difference.

What empowers someone to move from heart? That can be the tough part. Discovering what that means to you takes time, intention and usually lots of trial and error. The world is a noisy place and it’s easy to get lost. When that happens, we do have some tools at our disposal to help us get realigned with heart:

  1. Engage in self-awareness. Make it a priority to discover what truly matters to you on a deep level. What brings you joy and fulfillment? This may take the form of trying on different activities, adopting a spiritual practice, getting a coach or going to therapy. Whatever works for you.
  1. Listen to your intuition. Learn how to distinguish your inner voice from all the noise and listen to it. Allow it to guide you, and your heart-filled choices will become clearer. 
  1. Develop your empathy and compassion muscles. Being able to hold space for the perspectives, feelings and needs of those you encounter will support you to cultivate meaningful relationships and create impactful results. It starts with developing empathy for yourself! Not one of us is going to do this perfectly. You are worthy of empathy and compassion no matter what your mental saboteur voices might tell you.
  1. Become emotionally intelligent. Gain an awareness of your emotional landscape — the positive, negative and confusing. We all have blind spots. Once we become aware of the impact of our emotions on others, we can learn how to express them to support rather than hinder our connections.
  1. Speak from your heart. This creates genuine connection. It also can provide a meaningful example for others. You become an important role model. This does not mean to disregard tact, consideration, or the potential negative impact of our words. Being respectful and considerate of others is undeniably powerful. 

What does one need to let go of? In my experience, attachment to a particular outcome. We need to be willing to risk being misunderstood, criticized, rejected, or failing in a particular endeavor. We also need to risk being understood, supported and embraced, and succeeding beyond our wildest expectations! You might think that’s what we would want, but that would require relinquishing playing the victim. Letting go of the outcome allows magic to happen! When you are connected to heart, serendipity often moves things forward in ways you could never have imagined.

Moving from heart asks us to embrace humility and courage. Humility to know we are but one in a community of people who move from their own hearts, and courage to answer our calling. To do what Shakespeare so eloquently stated — to thine own self be true. 

Being heart-inspired is a personal journey. It’s living from the inside out. There is nothing weak about this. It requires the greatest of strengths — to be vulnerable.  To be seen and to express who we are even if that means being open to judgment. It asks us to be genuinely concerned for the well-being of family, friends, team, community, and our audiences. It means making it a priority to do what is inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo at Delphi — “know thyself.”

Why does heart matter? When we live, lead and speak from heart, we can be a positive force in the world and recognize, appreciate and celebrate the heart in all living beings. If this speaks to you, I would love to support you.