The heart gets inspired. Follow the heart.

 An ancient Hindu story tells of hiding the Divine and Her wisdom. It goes like this: When God created the earth, she gathered together the deities and playfully asked where she should hide herself so that humans might not easily find her. She liked to cavort and joyously play tricks. Shakti said, “Hide at the bottom of the ocean. No one will find you there.” But God said, “They will make machines that plumb the depths. That will not do.” Gaia piped up next. “Go up into the skies and hide there,” she said. But God said, “No, they will create technologies that will allow them to soar. And they will find me too easily there.” Then, God said, “I know. I will hide in their own hearts. That will be the last place they will think to look for me.”

This is the secret of the ancients. That the gold we seek is right here in our own hearts, not outside in the things and people around us. At some point on the spiritual path we begin to wake up to this. Sometimes the awakening is prompted by crisis or despair or loss of loved ones. It shifts the seeking and yearning from getting more things in the world, to acquiring inner peace and satisfaction. This is a big moment, one that should be awarded with a certificate for its significance. It marks the point where the inner realm becomes the focus, and power is shifted from the outside, material world, to the world of the spirit.

When the shift occurs, it brings a new sense of life and creativity. We can begin to create from the inside out and this is where real power resides, within the heart. How do you tap into that power? How do you find the God within you? The ways are different for everyone. But it requires a shift from head-directed decisions to heart-guides ones. The head seeks outward for the answers. It looks at logic and analyzes conditions. This is what it’s supposed to do and it’s a good instrument that needs to be used and called on at the right time. It can keep us out of trouble. But when it’s too much in charge, it stifles the intuitive and insightful vision of the heart and kills the creative spirit. It needs to be used in balance, not dominate and control as it often does.

The heart is the seat of that “still, small voice.” I’m sure it’s called that in the Bible because it requires being silent and receptive to hear it. It’s so subtle that if too much mental noise is in the way it becomes hard to hear. Setting side a time to pay attention to it will help you to listen to and decipher its yearnings. The heart requires a receptive space. It will not impose its suggestions or demand to be heard like the mind does. But if ignored too long, it will send up discomfort and dis-ease to you clue into its needs. Meditation at the same time and place every day is an ideal way to begin to tune into it. For others, walking, cooking or doing repetitive tasks where the mind is focused, will allow a space to receive impressions and insights from the heart. The wisdom heart asks to be received. So being in a place where the mind is still enough to allow the heart to be heard helps. Creating a home altar or sacred space for meditation is like having a great room for the spirit to soar.

Bio: Debra Moffitt is author of Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life. A visionary, dreamer and teacher, she’s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices at the Sophia Institute and other venues in the U.S. and Europe. Her mind/body/spirit articles, essays and stories appear in publications around the globe and were broadcast by BBC World Services Radio. She has spent over fifteen years practicing meditation, working with dreams and doing spiritual practices. Visit her online at http://www.awakeintheworld.com.