HSPS: How do you know when your heart is “seeing” clearly?
Today I was Kindling Louise Penny’s novel The Madness of Crowds when I read: “You’d be surprised how clearly the heart can see,” and was caught up in a moment of gratitude so great I almost stumbled off the elliptical.
It’s not that the statement doesn’t resonate with me—it does . . . profoundly. But when I read such words of high frequency and high integrity in a novel that I know millions of people are reading, I pretty much get angel-bumps up and down my arms.
It’s such a simple statement, too. Just nine words . . . that pack a huge punch.
For a long time now I have said that I think with my heart first. When I say that, lots of people look at me as if they must have misheard me. Who thinks with their heart, right? But now that it has become crystal clear that my brain is only as worthy of use as my heart is, things are different.
I mean, we might never really know what “causes” our emotional states. If we subtract the chemistry (the hormones and synapses, etc.), the component that loves, that feels all the emotions, is still a mystery. We certainly can’t know for sure that the heart itself is behind all those emotions. We connect them with this organ, the heart, and assign it to be the holding place of all things spiritual and emotional. I’m okay with that assignation. So, for our purposes, let’s go with it.
Mind or no mind
What if we didn’t have an organ called the brain? A brain that houses our mind? I doubt humans could function too well. Or without a heart, for that matter. The important piece here that is so often missed is that regardless of the individual, their socioeconomic status, their race, creed, gender, or genetics, one’s mind will never be able to fully suppress, ignore, or repress the heart.
The heart place
The heart is the “place” of true understanding, not understanding that comes through the mind. It’s a place where truth resonates—or doesn’t. The mind may serve our need for logic, but because it is attached to a human being, there will never be any such thing as pure objectivity. There will always be a heart, beating away, inherently clear, inherently pure, and inherently loving.
While there are always going to be those whose hearts have been treated so appallingly that they, in turn, manage to block them off, there can never be a mind that exists without a heart (for HSPs, this is especially valid). You might choose to ignore your heart’s calling, you may choose not to listen to its advice, you may decide that you’d rather hide from it than be hurt, but the heart will never shut down until you leave the physical realm this time around.
What the heart wants
The heart wants to keep beating. It wants to keep sending the signals to the mind that the mind cannot conceive of on its own. The heart has strings that tie it to the mind of which we may be completely unaware, but upon which we are completely dependent to keep us anchored in the human world in a way that makes sense.
So, when you hear, “You’d be surprised how clearly the heart can see,” give it a minute to sink in. Let it marinate. Savor it. Embrace it.
Your heart will love you for it.
