Cause #2 of unhappiness… When we ignore the messages of our heart.
- That might look like you working a 9-5 job when you truly want to teach yoga.
- It can be taking care of everyone else so much, you ignore that voice that needs rest.
- It can be signing your kids up for another activity which will make your schedule cray-cray when you really need space as a family.
For me it came when I was so driven in my job, I couldn’t pull my head up and see what was really important.
Years ago I used to work at Starbucks… surprise! I would make coffee, hang out with people, manage a store and laugh a lot, especially when I’d explode foamed milk all over myself or when we’d play Michael Jackson’s Beat It on repeat… moonwalking and cappuccinos.
Somewhere in the midst of management, work stopped being about people and started being about numbers. I felt pressure to increase profits and percentages. Instead of seeing what was going on, I focused on my next promotion. I was on the hamster wheel doing my best to make my boss love me. I was working my tata off and I was tired, frazzled and had lost my mojo.
When I slowed down, I could feel something was wrong, so I kept busy. I’d work extra shifts at work, or preoccupy myself by watching TV, hop on the internet, read a book, drink a glass of wine, eat some ice cream… We all have ways to avoid having to feel.
Sometimes we’re so lost, we have to be hit over the head with a 2′ x 4′ to wake up. My wake up was when I miscarried my baby. When I stopped, I could feel it all… my devastation at losing my baby, the lie I was living (I’ve got it all together) and the grief at having given up so much… having stopped listening to my heart in order to make other people like and admire me. Ouch.
There it was staring me in the face. When I looked at my life through the lens of my lost baby, I didn’t care about profits or percentages. There in the midst of my pain was my heart… reminding me of what was really important…
My family
My health
My friends
My heart
It was time to choose what was right . It was time to honor my heart. Have you been avoiding the calling of you heart? Are you ready to listen?
I want to hear from you. Tell me 1 thing your heart is telling you.
