Emotions as Fuel for Accomplishment

Long ago, I went through a Carlos Castaneda phase. One of the statements which I heard and nodded along with as a “yeah, that makes absolute sense” was:

“Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn’t. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.”

Essentially – the best paths are those with hearts.

Being on a Path of the Individual, I know that passion (heart) is where the power truly lies. What’s interesting is that I find myself revisiting this idea more and more of late, and the true profound simplicity is starting to really sink in. See, motivation does not come from the mind and action is not driven by thought. Ultimately, minds are not the motors which propel us. Minds can steer, negotiate, navigate, direct, and guide. While the mind might be able to whip some action into being, it is not strong enough to sustain that motion.

Trying to find ways to de-progam the “I am worthless” crap that has taken up residence in my deeper self, I decided I’d look at various self-hypnosis options. As I listened, I felt … bothered, irritated by the messages and then I had to wonder why. The answer was immediate: every single – EVERY … SINGLE … ONE – took a 100% mental approach. There was no heart anywhere at all.

So here are these self-help self-hypnosis tapes completely buying into the “mind over matter” mantra, as if the mind would ever be strong enough to truly over-rule the heart. Hah! Being an ego based society that is, quite frankly, terrified of its own emotional reality, we have elevated the mind into some sort of pseudo-god (especially the spiritual crowds). What a bunch of crap.

Please don’t assume this means I’m saying the mind is powerless. Far from it, but understand the true nature of the engine that is our heart. A path without a heart will lead nowhere because it is dead, without power, a car with an empty gas tank.

So I’m listening to this “think your way into motivation” and I remember thinking “dude, you want to motivate me, speak to the heart rather than the mind.” Now the mind can most definitely affect things – remember I said the mind is the navigator? Have a good navigator and you can reach anything you wish; have a bad navigator and it doesn’t matter how powerful the engine is!! You are not getting where you want to go.

So, if I want to make lasting changes in my life, my Self, then I need to find the path with heart. Find the passion. Find the emotion, and I think emotion is always tied to values. If something simply isn’t valued, then the motivation isn’t there – plain and simple. I can wish, brow-beat and punish myself until the cows come up for “failing” at something I simply don’t value enough to bother with, and nothing will change — other than feeling guilty and depressed. But find the values? The TRUE values which lie within the heart, not the ones the mind is convinced it “should” value? That’s the gasoline which powers the engine.

 

About the Featured Image: I found this on Your Energy Medicine blog. No idea where is came from other than this.