Your Heart Is Smarter Than Your Brain

Heart Intelligence Makes Better Decisions

Don't let your mind make your decisions for you.

Your mind makes ego-driven decisions. These decisions are the ego’s wants, not our needs. The ego is about survival and is concerned with your importance in society. The more important you are, the safer you are.

Our personal importance combines with other peoples to establish a social hierarchy. We want to be near or at the top of this hierarchy. The more important we are, the better off we are.

Our fear and anxiety are based on this hierarchy. If we are not at the top, we become afraid or anxious and work to get back to the top.

This leads to people pleasing, seeking validation outside ourselves, buying items that show the importance that doesn’t mean anything to us, and other actions. This begins a cycle that only gets worse.

As our fear increases, our decisions get worse as the cycle grows.

Ego Games Escalate

These bad decisions can affect everything from how we spend our money to how our homes look or what jobs we have. This is a front for a life we don’t want, and we hide this fact from ourselves and the world.

We work jobs we hate, are in relationships we don’t want, or engage in activities that don’t inspire us. After making enough of these decisions, our lives become a shell, and we are angry, depressed, and unfulfilled.

The cycle continues and spins faster as we chase more things to dull this unfulfillment. We spend more money and time on things that don’t matter to us.

This cycle keeps us stuck, and we suddenly realize that decades have passed and we are in a place we never thought we would be. This is when the rut is firmly established, and we even forget there is another way of life.

We add more stress to our lives while the ego tries to ensure we are not at the bottom of the social hierarchy. More stress makes the situation worse—a situation where the brain is in complete control.

Life Event Shocks Your Rut

Suddenly, a life-altering event happens. It can be anything. Major job loss, death of someone close to us, a dissatisfaction so deep that it can’t be ignored anymore.

These are the times we start to look deeper for meaning, looking for answers that don’t appear. This is another form of the ego because it is now looking for an easy fix to our feelings.

Now, we chase the quick-fix wheel, which becomes another rut we fall into. Again, the brain has made decisions based on wants, not our needs. You now spend your time chasing easy and expensive solutions that only work for a short time because you are trying to slap a band-aid on a wound that needs significant healing.

Turn it Around Right Now

Your heart connection can fix this.

The heart has a knowing that is outside the constraints of the ego. The Heart Math Institute calls it 'heart intelligence'—that there is a knowing in the heart that is separate from the mind.

I had a time in my life when my ego ran everything, and I was anxious and afraid all the time. The fear of being unimportant and what my future held led me to make expensive decisions. I wanted a guarantee that I could take care of myself.

I found myself working a toxic job that only seemed to get worse. I quit my job but didn't know what to do next.

I made rash decisions that cost a lot of time and money.

The significant problems we face today cannot be solved by the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. -Albert Einstein

Recognizing My Heart

So, I started working with my heart. It began with a few minutes and a desire to do something different because what I was doing wasn't working.

The technique is simple—an awareness that the heart is there and connecting to it without stress. Stress shifts the body into a different mode, and you can’t hear your heart.

I started by taking 10 belly breaths. I practiced this for a few days until it was comfortable. I did it during the day when I remembered, and I also did it at night, even before I went to sleep.

The other thing I did was become aware of my heartbeats. I think this is the simplest and most amazing thing I did. I took a minute and felt my pulse anytime during the day.

My heart beats without conscious thought and does it throughout the day without me even thinking of it. The consistency of it is amazing.

Connecting My Heart Intelligence

I put my hand over my heart. I focused my attention on where my hand was. I expressed gratitude that my heart was there. I even felt my heart beats for me. I then thanked my brain for being here with me and willing to acknowledge my heart.

I keep my awareness going. Eventually, my heart will give me gratitude back. The first time I felt this, a wave of love returned to me, filling my whole being with joy. There is a part of me that loves me back. There is peace when I feel the connection.

This is when things start to happen. The more awareness I put into it, the more it was aware of me back. This established the mind-heart connection. The more I connected with the heart, the less fear and anxiety I had.

Heart-Mind In Action

"We know the Truth not only by reason but also with the heart."-Blaise Pascal

I started asking questions about how my heart felt about my life. My mind made its answers known, but I got surprisingly different answers from my heart.

My brain was doing the usual analyzing and, pretty soon, overthinking. I was getting more and more confused. I turned to my heart to see what it had to say about my life.

I found clarity in the decisions made by the heart, which were based on my needs. Before this connection, I wanted to do so many things with my life that there wasn't time to do them all. I couldn't focus on what was important. I spent a considerable amount of money to make all of these choices.

Now, with my heart-mind connection, I was able to prioritize. I narrowed things down until my priorities remained, and I was thrilled.

The ego quieted because it didn't have to try to find answers. It could gather data and give it to the heart to process. Making decisions for your needs is more straightforward than deciding for the ego's temporary wants. I started to feel more joy because this also connected my spirit.

My Heart Saves Family

"It is the heart that always sees, before the head can see."-Thomas Carlyle

Recently, I was involved in a family conflict. I analyzed the situation and tried to sort it out. I got upset and angry because none of it made sense. I turned to my heart to see what it had to say.

I didn’t get the words, but I felt the emotion. My heart said the situation wasn’t a big deal. I still loved my family. My heart said all my overthinking was unnecessary and that I should turn my mind to other matters.

My heart was right.

I discovered unknown information, which made the whole situation clear and trivial.

What would have happened if I had just gone with my head? I would have blown up a situation and caused conflict and suffering. Now, I consult my heart for answers, after or before the brain has had a chance to weigh in on it.

My Heart Says It All

The more I use my heart, the stronger it gets. There is a sense of joy throughout the day that was absent before. I find the more significant qualities of stability, tolerance, and wisdom happening.

Like any practice, it has days it is better and worse. I am still breaking the habit of being in my head all the time. I still have some anxiety and fear.

I drop into my heart when I catch things, and there is an instant calm. I even feel some piece of wisdom surface, and it makes me smile. The wisdom is common sense and calm.

I don’t make decisions without consulting the heart-mind. I save money and time because my heart realigns me with my priorities.

I don’t regret the path of fear and anxiety I traveled to get here. I would have never found my heart.