I’m halfway through my counselling degree. And for once in my life it feels like I’ve aced following my heart at something rather than all of the ‘should’s’ floating in and around me. I used to think following hearts contrary to the ‘right’ thing, but I have since learned the heart must be included on the path we choose to walk if we want to walk it with any sense of purpose. If we wish to pour our own heart out, we must first have a heart available and healthily beating, to be able to then use its power to bring life to the world in which it dwells.
I’m not there yet, but I feel like I’ve started a journey that’s heading this way.
What has studying counselling taught me so far?
People often think a problem or struggle not pressing or large enough to acknowledge it’s presence. So instead they sit with it quietly at their side thinking this is just how it is, and how it will be – ‘other people have far larger problems and concerns, so I should learn to sit with mine.’ This is me at times with certain things – still. But I have a question – who, or what is telling you that it is not worthy of your moving past? Who is deciding that for you?
Is it those ‘should’s’? I just find those interesting, because they seem to tell us things contrary to our heart. You know, the ‘I should start now….’ ‘I should say yes….’ I shouldn’t be here….’ ‘I shouldn’t be this way…’ Do you see it? The ‘should’s’ seem to sit upon something contrary, a ‘but.’ ‘I should start now, but I haven’t,’ ‘I should say yes, but I don’t want to’ I shouldn’t be this way….. but I AM’ ….. It is not that the heart can always be followed, but it must always be listened to because it tells and signals of how it – how YOU are doing. Where it needs help… life, or insight. Your heart deserves to be heard, always, because you deserve to be heard – each and every part of you.
I do wonder and am beginning to believe… perhaps it is less a matter of whether what you hear your heart saying is right or wrong, but rather offering ears and grace to those hidden struggles and pains is what actually allows you to begin to move past them.
What is not seen, will continue to be stumbled over. What is seen can then be used to find a new direction, to re-calibrate in a more helpful way. Gather some other open hearts to join with you. To move what has been in the dark, into the light. Treat these fragile things tenderly and with the utmost care, and watch with joy, and probably a few tears, what blooms as a result.
Kia Kaha.
x
“You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn’t come from the One who called you into the race in the first place. And please don’t toss this off as insignificant. It only takes a minute amount of yeast, you know, to permeate an entire loaf of bread.” Gal 5:7
anne-marie elizabeth 