22 Quotes on Following Your Heart (and How To Better Listen To What It Has To Say)

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Excerpt: Listening to our mind is easy—listening to our heart is not so easy. Read our 22 quotes on following your heart and look closer at why…

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Introduction: It’s Easy to Listen to the Mind—Listening to the Heart, However, is Not So Easy

One of the greatest gifts I have received from my sister is the gift of a better connection to my own heart. I don’t know anybody that is more in tune with their heart and has followed their heart’s path than she. I see this now more than ever in how she has navigated some tough, unconventional life situations that didn’t have, well, conventional wisdom or many paths to refer to for help.

When faced with unconventional situations that stray from a path that might be considered “normal,” many would try to suppress or escape from the feelings out of fear or anxiety and stick to the “norm” anyway—but not her. From as early as I can remember, she has listened to her heart even in the most challenging of times and has been able to make the tough decisions which have led her to the beautiful path she is on now. And what’s even more beautiful, is how this has manifested in her ability to help those around her too.

Because she is so in tune with her heart, she instinctively is able to help others get in tune with theirs and gives wonderfully refreshing advice—and I find that she is the type who gets asked for advice often. The predominant narrative that I usually find her directing is one that points the person’s focus inward and encourages them to find the answer(s) they’re looking for within.

It’s as though she simply lays out the question for people that they so frequently miss: “What is your heart telling you?” In this way, she is usually able to help people get in tune with what they already know—many times without them even knowing it. For many, the voice of the heart has been ignored, silenced, or drowned out from the outside noise and can no longer be heard. And yet, after only a few minutes with her, the subtle whispers of the heart come back into awareness.

And don’t get it twisted, our hearts and bodies do, indeed, speak to us every day—some of us simply might not be paying close enough attention or might not know the language. Our body and our heart process subtle cues from our environment that sometimes surpass our conscious understanding and produce feelings, emotions, and nonverbal body language that can be interpreted as the language of the heart.

Some of us, can intuitively pick up on those messages and can utilize that information in empowering ways—others might need more direct guidance. Things to pay attention to might be: nonverbal body language cues like facial expressions, feelings of resistance, aches or pains, etc; strong or lurking emotions like joy, hate, pleasure, disgust, engagement, discontent, etc; or even physical ailments like stomach aches, head aches, anxiety attacks, nausea, etc. to give you an idea. And what’s more is that this type of heart communication might be even more important to pay attention to than the type of communication that you might be getting from your mind.

Your mind is brilliant at running simulations and playing out different situations and potential action choices into the future so that you can eliminate those that play out the worst and you can select the simulation that plays out the best. This is a pivotal tool that saves all of us from many awful, rash decisions.

The only problem with running these simulations is that if you don’t have all of the information—like the information that is being provided to you by your heart—you might run incomplete simulations and you may end up moving forward in a sub-optimal way. On the flip side, this is also why you don’t want to only listen to your heart because you need to be able to run those mental simulations in order to make the best decision(s) you can.

The important undertone however, is that I believe most of us are very much in tune with our minds—probably even too much to the point where we can’t get our minds to shut up! …And not to mention, our mind speaks to us in plain language after all. Many of us are simply not so in tune with our hearts because our hearts don’t speak in plain language—it speaks to us in nonverbal, emotional, subtle cues.

When we can find this balance though—this heart-mind balance—we may find some of the thickly layered fog lifting from our path and we may be able to make more clear, confident decisions. I know my sister has helped me lift much of the fog from my path for sure. My hope is that her story will inspire you to reconnect with and better follow the guidance of your heart and that some of the fog will be lifted from your path as well. Sending you love and light.

The List: 22 Quotes on Following Your Heart (and How To Better Listen To What It Has To Say)

Below, you will find our collection of quotes on following your heart that reinforce many of the themes mentioned above. Topics discussed include how the heart communicates insight, how to better listen to what the heart has to say, how to utilize the power of the heart, and how a change in heart can lead to a change in life. We hope they find you well.

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“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”

Aristotle

“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart.  Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.”

Carl Jung

“You will never be able to escape from your heart.  So it is better to listen to what it has to say.”

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“Everyone thinks only of him- or herself, and that is why there is so much contention and discord in our world.  If we could just keep our hearts pure, everything would be fine.  Do not think that the divine exists high above us in heaven.  The divine is right here, within and around us.”

Morihei Ueshiba, Budo Secrets

“Grandfather says: When you feel powerless that’s because you stopped listening to your own heart, that’s where power comes from.”

Gianni Grow

“Intuition literally means learning from within. Most of us were not taught how to use this sense, but all of us know well that ‘gut’ feeling. Learn to trust your inner feeling and it will become stronger. Avoid going against your better judgment or getting talked into things that just don’t feel right.”

Doe Zantamata

“Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.”

Dr. Joyce Brothers

“The most important thing for a human being is not what is between his or her ears; it is what is in his or her heart.  If the spirit is strong, one can accomplish anything.”

Tempu Nakamura, Budo Secrets

“Our greatest strength lies in the gentleness and tenderness of our heart.”

Rumi

“The heart is a muscle like any other and the best exercise you can do for it is called picking yourself up off the floor.”

Iain Thomas, I Wrote This For You

“The job is not your work; what you do with your heart and soul is the work.”

Seth Godin, Linchpin

“Fortunately, some are born with spiritual immune systems that sooner or later give rejection to the illusory worldview grafted upon them from birth through social conditioning. They begin sensing that something is amiss, and start looking for answers. Inner knowledge and anomalous outer experiences show them a side of reality others are oblivious to, and so begins their journey of awakening.  Each step of the journey is made by following the heart instead of following the crowd and by choosing knowledge over the veils of ignorance.”

Henri Bergson

“The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking, don’t settle.”

Steve Jobs

“When confronted with a challenge, the committed heart will search for a solution. The undecided heart searches for an escape.”

Andy Andrews, The Noticer

“Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.”

Rainer Maria Rilke

“Do things with your whole heart, with as much intensity as you are capable of. Anything done halfheartedly never brings joy to life. It only brings misery, anxiety, torture, and tension, because whenever you do anything halfheartedly you are dividing yourself into two parts, and that is one of the greatest calamities that has happened to human beings – they are all split.”

Osho, The Book of Understanding

“Ultimately, we need to develop what the Japanese call kokoro, which means to merge our heart and mind in action.  It implies that we are balanced and centered, allowing us to operate in synchronicity with our inner selves, with others, and with nature.  When we commit to integral development and lead with kokoro, we will be 100 percent authentic, present, and powerful.”

Mark Divine, The Way of the Seal

“The most powerful agent of change is a change of heart.”

B.J. Marshal

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