Why don’t we follow that still small voice inside ourselves?
Why do we ignore our hunches and urges?
Why do we not live the life we truly are?
Why? Because we were programmed NOT to.
I didn’t know this… until I learned that the body doesn’t lie.
The universe had to help wake me up from what now seems like a coma, to realize I had created a life that was not me. It looked like the wonderful life I had been programmed to choose, but it was not who I was or what I truly wanted.
After being hit by four different drunk drivers in a 20 month period, losing much of my recruiting business on 9/11, and a near death experience, I had to face the truth… I was not authentically being me and living an authentic life.
I then had to do the most courageous thing I’ve ever done: tell myself the truth and begin to listen to my own heart rather than the programmed messages and beliefs running inside my head. I needed to begin the work of finding my way back home to who I am. I had to learn to love myself fully and release the negative beliefs that I carried.
There’s a famous Rwandan Proverb that says, “You can outrun that which runs after you. But you can not outrun that which runs inside you.”
Neuroscience has discovered that we reprogram our brains. But we must first identify, name, and question the outdated beliefs that are running within us, and then exercise our will to DROP IT and replace the old patterns and beliefs with new alternative positive ways of being.
So, what runs inside you?
For me, it was a fear of being selfish if I did what was best for me, plus some old buried hurts that were unconsciously eating up my focused energy and vitality.
Here are some simple steps you can use to question your beliefs and replace your old thought patterns with ones that better align with your purpose:
- Name what is running inside you that doesn’t serve you. Allow your body to tell you the whole truth. What outdated thoughts do you have about your self or others, old hurts, excuses, fears?
- Feel compassion and empathy for where you are and where you’ve been.
- Identify how much time is spent running these old negative programs.
- Write the vision of what life would feel like if you could drop these programs and replace them. What might be possible when you are free and open to following your heart?
How to hear what your heart wants:
- Breathe into your heart space and feel your curiosity and openness to learn what your heart wants right now.
- Remember that the body doesn’t lie. You may be surprised by what it says.
- Receive whatever your heart says in this moment.
- You may dismiss what you hear as “crazy” or “impossible” if it’s something you’ve not imagined you would ever want or could achieve. Or you may not be up for taking action at this moment. It’s ok to acknowledge whatever is real for you as you listen to your heart.
The first time I tried this exercise, “song writing” is what my heart said it wanted to do. I will share with you the brief dialogue that came immediately after I heard this:
“I don’t have TIME to song write and I’m a single mom and need to make money, so no to songwriting.”
End of discussion.
Fast forward 2 years after my MOYO said “song writing,” and you’d see me teaching a group of executives to “listen to their hearts and reclaim their gifts and passions.” I felt my body cringe with hypocrisy… I had tuned my heart out even though it had spoken so clearly. So I picked up a pen and paper late that night and wrote the words to my first song, “Love Your Self.” It took 10 minutes. After laughing out loud at myself and my programmed resistances and excuses for not trying songwriting, I began following my heart more often. I had to let go of the program I ran inside that said “anything worth having or doing has to be hard.” In less than 4 months, the song became a complete album called Love Your Self. Then it became a one-woman show and benefit concert, and further evolved into a book called The Inner Traveler’s Guidebook to Moyo: Discovering the Power of Listening to Your Own Heart
I believe the most self-loving thing we can ever do is to choose to come home and BE who we are so we can live our authentic, passionate, and purposeful lives.
Mark Twain said, “The two most important days of our life are the day you were born and the day you discover why you were born.” Our soul’s purpose is what we long to fulfill for this lifetime.
Moyo means heart, spirit, and life in Swahili. Discover the power of listening to your own heart. It’s a practice in trusting that your Moyo knows and that the body doesn’t lie.
What would be possible for you if you could trust that your Moyo knows?
Miracles began to happen as I took the steps to reclaim my gifts and give myself what my heart wanted. The same thing can happen to YOU.
My whole life now makes sense. Everything I’ve ever done and all my gifts are now engaged in my life’s passion and work:
To help Inner Travelers™ emerge and become authentically who they are so they can live the life they truly are.
Learning to trust your MOYO is a practice. The more you engage, listen, and act upon the truth your hearts speaks, the more congruent you become.
***If you’d like to work with Linda, she is offering a 3 Session Coaching Package for Emerging Women for just $399 if you sign up by December 31, 2017. This is a 50% discount. Email her at Linda@LindaNewlin.com or phone her at (805) 729-1663.
