If you cannot put your heart into it, take yourself out of it.
Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. I agree. Fact: Most people are insane. The cure for this insanity is awareness. (In fact, awareness is the cure for most things.)
There is a pattern among living things—we do what we know. In the morning my cat wails like a wounded baby until I give her attention. The vines on my cucumber plant pull themselves toward the sun. I worry about everything.
None of us creatures take note of what we are doing. Even if we’re not getting the results we’re after. Even if it’s making us miserable. Even if we’re doing the same thing over and over and getting nowhere. We just do it because it’s what we know.
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Living things require a catalyst for change. The catalyst can be trial and error, evolution, or necessity. Examples:
- If my cat scratches at my door for twenty minutes and I ignore her, eventually she will try something else.
- Animals evolve over time to better adapt to their environment. The Hudson river has become so toxic that the small fish that inhabit it have grown immune to the toxicity. Moreover, in the past decade they’ve actually evolved to thrive on that toxicity.
- The natural habitat of black bears in New Jersey has been almost entirely destroyed. There is little left for them to eat, less fish, less plant life, etc. To avoid starving, they’ve become scavengers. We can’t leave our garbage out overnight.
- Our cucumber plants crave sunlight. If we put a potted plant half in the shade, half in the sun, the plant will literally pull itself into the light.
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But there is a difference—something that separates us (humans) from the rest of the living things. That difference is awareness. We are not doomed to the fate of the cat, the fish, the bear, the cucumber plant. If we practice awareness we can create positive change in our lives without impetus, without a catalyst. We can observe the world around us, the things that happen to us, and we can knowingly, willfully alter our paths.
We do not have to wait until it’s necessary, until there is no other choice, until we are miserable, unhealthy, afraid, and desperate. We can create positive change now.
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What is it for you? What are you doing over and over again, even though you are craving a different result?
The answer that you’ve been searching for is not so far away. The result that you’ve been hoping for is actually within reach. The key to all of this is simple. Live with your heart. Lead with your heart. If you cannot put your heart into it, then take yourself out of it.
The soul is a tiny thing that brings us peace and joy when we let it swim/fly. —Mark Nepa
Stop doing things that you hate to make other people happy. Stop sabotaging your dreams because you are afraid of failure. Stop making excuses and avoiding the hard work that will make your goals a reality. Stop worrying. Stop the insanity of doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.
Today is the day. It’s the only day that matters.
In love & light,
Dena
I’m trying to be more like the cucumber… forever crawling towards the sun.
I like that.
And you’re right. Lead with your heart, because today is the day that matters.
Forever crawling towards the sun…
This is a life well-lived, my friend. Pursuit of happiness, pursuit of light. What else is there? 🙂
It’s like animals and bugs and even vines have this consciousness and brilliant adaptability. I know it’s called “survival”–but I think there is some clear-clean phototropic awareness. We are saturated in self-awareness and it keeps us in puddles of mud.
I am wholly there when you realize you don’t have to go to rock-bottom to re-boot your awareness. My decision to stop drinking (1yr ago), was a quiet, calm choice. It was a wonderful, whisper–“enjoy the clarity and the tummy of life without beer.” Done. Awareness. Happy.
Bzzzz,
M
Brilliant, Mark. Yes–clear-clean phototropic. Perhaps a total lack of awareness? The essence of not knowing (not worrying, not trying) and just being. That nature has the ability to just be, like water. Maybe to embrace awareness is, in actuality, to let it all go? ♥
I like to think that I use my heart in everything I do. Some say it can get me in trouble becasue I am too quick to use my heart. I think it’s led me in the right direction and those logical mind oriented people can bug off. 🙂 Love it Dena and love you!! 🙂
I struggle with it all of the time, Meg. I lead with my heart, as well. So much so that at times I feel like it’s dragging me around–up, down, through the mud. Ya know? This morning, in my person journal, I posed a question. I wondered, “Would my life be easier if I could just stop feeling so much?” And then I answered myself. “Yes. It would. But it would also be more boring and less brilliant.”
Love you so much! xo
Following the heart is a scary business. I know, because I am in the midst of it. It doesn’t come without some lost sleep and worry, but I know I am on the right path.
And, I know it will take me where I want to go.
xo
A scary business indeed. I know all about the lost sleep aspect of it — it picked me up at 3:30 a.m. last night & never put me down. But, like you, I know that it’s worth it.
We’re exactly where we need to be. Love you so much. xo
Funny I just read a fortune from a fortune cookie:)Its says:
Life is a tragedy for those who feel,and a comedy for those who think….
I find it amusing because i am such a feeler,however I am also a thinker…
So that must be the balance,to have a little of both….
I find myself aware of the imbalance of my nature,and the continual repeating the same behaviors,I am aware that it gets me no where,and yet i keep hoping for some change..I am aware i could do something different,however I am not aware of what makes my heart happy,besides Love….I have my childrens,and that of my husband,so he says….thats is my sadness…he says,but yet i don’t feel it…there is no show of affection,and that is what drives me crazy….its the same over and over,no new results…so,how do I pull out of something that keeps me half way there?