Making it Work Where You

Knowing, and believing, are two different things. One comes from your mind, and the other from your heart. When you hold ideas that your heart does not agree with, you feel the dissonance. Which is why I regularly let go of my limiting beliefs, which never line up with my true wants.

Knowing, and believing, are two different things. One comes from your mind, and the other from your heart.

True wants exist at a heart level. Which is why we say “I love.” We intuitively recognize that a want — a feeling — is a matter of the heart. True wants can thus be seen as heart wants. The significance of a heart want cannot be overstated. The pull of the heart is strong. It urges us forward into a new way of being. Then it leaps with joy once we arrive there. The time before that arrival? Eager yearning.

I call it eager yearning because there’s a sense of positive expectation and a wanting, at the same time. This feeling, where we are in love with life and hopeful for more, is where I found peace. As if I sat in the middle of a fulcrum, allowing myself to be pulled forward based purely on my desires. On my heart wants.

There was a time that I feared the pull of my heart. I knew it to be so strong, that giving in to it meant that I was going off a cliff. So I kept safe distances from those edges as a way to keep myself safe. Little did I know that going over the edge was far, far easier than trying to hold back.

Some of us literally go over the edge on the path to our heart wants. We quit a job. We make the big leap. We move cross country to find ourselves.

I was not looking, however, to swap out any part of my life, as my life is full of things I wanted. I was ready, however, to add more joy, fulfillment, and fun. So I didn’t want to go over the edge. I wanted to up-level the life I was already living.

I wanted better, richer relationships. I wanted more financial success. I wanted a more fulfilling purpose. I wanted more experiences of joy.

Once I began to focus on my heart wants, I realized that I had a penchant for breaking down these subjects so that others could benefit too. I felt a strong pull toward writing, sharing, and learning. Which made me feel really good. What it didn’t do, however, is become my job.

My work is in the area of risk management for a large corporation. I oversee legal risk, compliance risk, and cyber risk, all of which are about planning to avoid a negative event. None of that work seemed congruous with my new found interest in spiritual topics. At first. But slowly I saw that there was a harmony above the fray.

The harmony that I found was that all my roles at work involved me managing people. And all my work on shifting your mindset was helpful to every person I managed. I never once framed my advice, or my leadership, as spiritual, but all the concepts were the same.

Perceptions. Beliefs. Ideas. Wants. Fears. Nearly every business problem I encountered could be framed up with those ideas. Nearly every person who came to me for advice needed a lesson in shifting perspectives. Nearly every day, I found examples of spiritual concepts. At work.

Which leads me back to heart wants. I like my job. I like the autonomy I am given to lead in ways that feel good to me. I love to see others succeed. And I enjoy when I am included in decision making.

It took me along time to see, but a piece of my heart was in my work. And still I wanted more. More fulfillment. More challenges. More to love.

If you are sensing a new career working its way into your life, you might decide to go over the cliff and jump into the new thing your heart desires. Or, you could stay where you are and seek to add more of what you love into your life. I, for one, am glad I chose to add.

If you are sensing a new career working its way into your life, you might decide to go over the cliff and jump into the new thing your heart desires. Or, you could stay where you are and seek to add more of what you love into your life.

If a big career or life move scares you, let that fear show you your underlying wants. Then see if you can take tiny steps, today, toward those wants, until you are ready to go over the cliff. Or the cliff rises to meet you where you have grown.

Many of us don’t want to lose what we have. We want to add to what we have.

As we embark on a new year, don’t allow the idea of a cliff to keep you from pursuing the wants of your heart.