Critical-thinking has typically been a significant part of how I have maneuvered through the world. Notions of logic and analytical thinking have been a part of my mind repertoire. I am now wondering about how much the wisdom of the heart has actually been playing a role in how I approached life. I am trying to learn more how a wise heart can guide me. I am trying to listen more to my wise heart.
Wise heart may be what some people mean when they talk of intuition. But I think my wise heart is more than simple intuition. Definitely more than a vague feeling. I’m not sure it has a lot to do with feeling at all. Not the emotional kind of feeling.
For me, a wise heart requires a relaxed body and an undistracted mind. I allow my mind to be at rest so that my wise heart can be active. This allows concentration on a singular aspect of reality, and that is the realm of my wise heart. There is a fullness of attention that is more than a simple cognitive event. My body and mind, all of me becomes directed to something. If there is a feeling of sorts involved, it is that I can feel that something. This for me is becoming heart wise.
In those moments, I understand in a way that is more than cognition, more than knowing with my mind alone. Being heart wise is a wisdom, a way of knowing that energizes my whole self, and I am aware from the top of my head to the tip of my toes. It is something close to absorption.
I think that I can have heart wisdom, I can be heart wise without the experience of absorption. For me it is like standing on the threshold of absorption, looking in without yet entering. Absorption is still out of reach, even as it is inviting.
Being heart wise is a calm way of knowing, it is a way of understanding that settles in my muscles and bones. To be heart wise, I have to be intimately connected to those muscles and bones. They are integral to my being heart wise.
Heart wisdom is not light and fluffy. Understanding things that are difficult in a heart wise manner is a heavy burden. Heart wisdom means being aware just how difficult and heavy a situation can be. For me, when I recently became more aware of the history and story of the orchestrated imprisonment of Black men, I was nearly overwhelmed with the heavy burden. Being heart wise creates an opening to grasp the gravity of a difficult situation.
At the same time, being heart wise of a difficult situation makes it more manageable to grasp, easier to absorb. I find this is true whether the difficult situation is part of my life or appears to be apart from my life. The difficulty may be more deeply felt, but being heart wise builds a resilience that can better support a difficult, painful awareness.
Being heart wise may actually not be totally new for me. I suspect it has been there all the time, as it is in all of us. I just haven’t know how to pay good attention. I am very slowly learning to have a fuller grasp of heart wisdom, how to pay better attention. For me, this means giving it room. It means not allowing mental distraction or body agitation to eclipse my heart wisdom.
To be heart wise, I need to pause. I need to relax my body. I need to quiet my mind. I welcome my heart wisdom when I set my intention to listen. Sometimes I invite my bell. Sometimes I simply sit. I concentrate.