{"id":1492,"date":"2015-02-01T17:12:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-01T16:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1492"},"modified":"2015-02-02T09:51:23","modified_gmt":"2015-02-02T08:51:23","slug":"hearts-minds-and-connecting-the-dots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1492","title":{"rendered":"Hearts, Minds and Connecting the Dots"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>I was recently asked to comment on a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inc.com\/natalie-nixon\/5-reasons-why-it-is-critical-to-follow-your-heart.html\">blog<\/a>\u00a0exploring the idea as to whether or not it is <em><span style=\"color: #00ff00;\">&#8220;<\/span><\/em><span style=\"color: #00ff00;\">critical to follow your heart&#8221;<\/span>. \u00a0It got me thinking (quite a bit). \u00a0Oh, and I make no excuses for the apparent New Age flavour to this post. \u00a0It&#8217;s just how it came out!<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Over the past few years, I have become more aware\u00a0that we have several centres of intelligence. The mind is but one. The heart is another. \u00a0More recently, the gut has been <a title=\"Scientific American Article on the Gut\" href=\"http:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/the-neuroscience-of-gut\/\">recognised by scientists as having its own intelligence<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0such a fragmented world, where academics and book writers are rewarded for micro-ideas that can be framed into sound bytes (such as the one above), I find it interesting to call on history and the ancient wisdom of the Hindu\/Buddhist Chakra system. \u00a0In this system, there are seven centres of energy within the body. Each system nowadays has a colour of the rainbow associated with it. \u00a0The heart charka is green and is at the centre of the system.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Chakra1.jpg\"><img data-attachment-id=\"1496\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?attachment_id=1496\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Chakra1.jpg?fit=300%2C221\" data-orig-size=\"300,221\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1359305085&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Chakra\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Chakra1.jpg?fit=300%2C221\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Chakra1.jpg?fit=300%2C221\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-1496\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Chakra1.jpg?resize=397%2C299\" alt=\"Chakra\" width=\"397\" height=\"299\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the main issues in today&#8217;s world seems to be that the mind (indigo) and communication (blue) centres are so energetic &#8211; with our so-called &#8220;knowledge society&#8221; coupled with\u00a0&#8220;mass broadcast media&#8221; that the other (lower) forms of subtle energy get drowned-out.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe this is an age-old problem? \u00a0For there is also an ancient buddhist saying that <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">&#8220;the longest journey in life is from the head to the heart&#8221;<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, I am currently doing some research on how the seven centres of chakric energy can become better balanced &#8211; not just within the context of an individual &#8211; but also in organisations AND society in general.<\/p>\n<p>For:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Without a higher purpose, life becomes meaningless.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #cc99ff;\">Without mind that is connected to serve\u00a0others, life becomes ego-centric and selfish.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Without clearly articulating\u00a0what you want for yourself or your organisation, others won&#8217;t understand where you are coming from and ignore you or misinterpret your ideas.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #00ff00;\">Without being allowed to truly\u00a0express your feelings, life becomes emotionally blocked.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Without a sense that you are truly empowered, life becomes deeply frustrating.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Without a co-creative connection with others in your family or tribe, life becomes lonely.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Without a place to call home, life becomes frightening.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And so, to the main discussion about whether or not it is critical to follow your heart.<\/p>\n<p>On thinking about the idea, I came to the conclusion\u00a0that\u00a0it isn&#8217;t just when the heart-centre is &#8220;in flow&#8221; &#8211; or we are &#8220;in the groove&#8221; that we get that feeling of life-is-good. \u00a0It is when <span style=\"color: #00ff00;\">ALL<\/span> the energy centres are aligned to create an organic energy that is more than the sum of its constituent parts. \u00a0It is at such times that we, as human beings, are most connected to our fellow human beings &#8211; and to the natural world around us.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #00ff00;\">In terms of organisations, as regular readers will know, I look for much of my inspiration in the work that I do a as a beekeeper. I find the\u00a0universal energy which is generated in abundance from the colonies of bees that I keep is indescribable &#8211; it has to be felt to be understood. The ways that the movements and (unrecordable) energies\u00a0from each tiny, individual bee are compounded to create a colony that vibrates and energises the space around for the greater good of the colony is not too dissimilar to an organisation or society where the subtle forms of energy are recognised, amplified and aligned to a higher purpose. \u00a0Religious movements are one obvious answer. \u00a0But there are many other examples &#8211; some\u00a0with &#8220;good&#8221; objectives. \u00a0Others perhaps, with more dubious ones.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">I&#8217;ve also come to believe that intuition and flashes of inspiration (Ahah! moments, if you like) are not from us, but come to us when we most need them or call upon them. The egoic state sees itself as the centre of the universe. But spiritual practice is about removing the ego and tuning into more subtle forces of universal energy that pull you. \u00a0It is as if you are plugged-into connected consciousness and more aware of the subtle energies that might give you a greater chance to allow your energy to be mixed in more rewarding, unique ways.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>So, it probably is important to follow your heart (over your head). But true connectedness comes when each energy centre is in alignment with the whole. It is then that\u00a0we give up pushing and allow ourselves to be pulled. \u00a0It is then that\u00a0all the dots are joined-up and where everything makes sense after the fact. This was so well articulated by Steve Jobs when he delivered his famous speech to Stanford graduates:<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #00ff00;\"><em>&#8220;You can\u2019t connect the dots looking forward,&#8221; Jobs told the Stanford grads. &#8220;You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something &#8211; your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Trouble is, it&#8217;s very difficult to put all this stuff\u00a0into a few sound-bytes and broadcast them over Twitter &#8211; or even a blog post like this!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was recently asked to comment on a blog\u00a0exploring the idea as to whether or not it is &#8220;critical to follow your heart&#8221;. \u00a0It got me thinking (quite a bit). \u00a0Oh, and I make no excuses for the apparent New Age flavour to this post. \u00a0It&#8217;s just how it came out! &nbsp; Over the past &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1492\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Hearts, Minds and Connecting the Dots&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[106,26,37,50,105,83,34,89,85,73,60,57,46],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DQGK-o4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1425,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1425","url_meta":{"origin":1492,"position":0},"title":"The Heart&#8217;s Intuitive Intelligence","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"28\/06\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Thursday, I had a meeting with a business colleague. \u00a0We had only met once before - but somehow the energy felt really good between us. \u00a0Conversation flowed. \u00a0Ideas bubbled to the surface. \u00a0Creative spirit abounded. During the conversation, it became apparent that I had talked in our\u00a0previous meeting about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Animated&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Animated","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=70"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":558,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=558","url_meta":{"origin":1492,"position":1},"title":"Emergence and Swarm Consciousness","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"09\/07\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"As the honeybee swarming season is ending, I have been reflecting on the four swarms we have caught this season and the phenomenon that some call \"swarm consciousness\". In researching more about the subject, I came across this short set of PBS videos describing a new way of thinking described\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Architecture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":252,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=252","url_meta":{"origin":1492,"position":2},"title":"Digital Scotland Rocks!","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"05\/11\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I was away in Edinburgh last week at the launch of the Digital Scotland report. \u00a0A fine piece of work which creates a new way of looking at Next Generation Access in the UK by suggesting that Scotland creates a Digtial Scotland Trust with a number of internet hubs which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Big Ideas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Big Ideas","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=42"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":577,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=577","url_meta":{"origin":1492,"position":3},"title":"Reasons for the Crisis: Designing for Obsolescence","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"27\/07\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In a week where the Murdoch media empire appeared to lose its power, I came across this video \"The Story of Stuff\"- perhaps the most important \"News of the World\" that Murdoch's empire was at the heart of ignoring. Even if you have seen it, watch it again: it will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Animated&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Animated","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=70"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=7","url_meta":{"origin":1492,"position":4},"title":"Form Follows Function &#8211; or does it?","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"11\/06\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Louis Sullivan, the American architect is said to be the person who originally coined the phrase in 1896, in his article \u201cThe Tall Office Building Artistically Considered\u201d. The full text is as follows: It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, Of all things physical and metaphysical,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Design","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":667,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=667","url_meta":{"origin":1492,"position":5},"title":"Steve Jobs RIP","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"06\/10\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I cannot mark today's Thursday Thoughts without a tribute to Steve Jobs. \u00a0He became a legend in his own lifetime and he has surely changed the way that we work, \u00a0play and think. \u00a0He will be sadly missed having made a unique contribution to those who live beyond his untimely\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Apple&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=77"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Steve-Jobs-max-250x250.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1492"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1518,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492\/revisions\/1518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}