A restless heart is an elusive condition because we feel it from within, but we often have difficulty understanding its source or describing our feelings to another person. It’s not rational. Everything may be going well in our lives and we may have a lot to be thankful for, but somehow, somewhere, there is a nagging feeling that something is missing.
In my own life, as well as my experience with numerous coaching clients, this feeling of restlessness can be our inner being urging us to keep going, to challenge ourselves to take the next step in our lives, whatever it may be. Our intellect or ego/personality/outer self tends to want to hold us, to keep us in the same space because it is safe and familiar, regardless of how boring and unchallenging it may be.
Of course, we all know that to remain inactive is not to grow as a human being, and therefore this restless heart activates within, tugging at our mind and emotions as it tries to get our attention. Just like we have physical symptoms when something is wrong with our body, it cries out to be heard. Unfortunately, most of us weren’t raised to listen to our own inner voices. We were silenced by the outside forces of family, friends, and enemies. In an astonishingly short period of time, a hard shell grows around our heart’s messages, and while we can no longer hear its message, we can feel it, however unknown or peculiar.
There is only one way to calm your restless heart, and that is to stop and listen to it, feel it, and know that it comes from a part of you that has always been with you and always will be. We can deny who we really are, but who we are can never be denied. Your inner voice will continue to call you when you least expect it until it is heard, even if it never is. Your restless heart will keep churning inside you until the day you die, maybe even longer, but I’m no expert on such matters, so you’ll have to figure it out for yourself.
Your restless heart can speak to you in a number of ways, all unique to you. I have often found that simply observing the wonderful world we live in opens my restless heart and allows me to hear your tender words. There is nothing more moving than a beautiful sunset or the majesty of a purple mountain against a serene sky. The natural world moves me like nothing else can. Writing also opens me up to my restless heart and it has always been that way. Even as I write now, this is a spontaneous blog as I am at this point in my life. Cooking for my family and friends or baking bread can become a meditation for me. Music brings my restless heart to the surface and suddenly with its urgency I can dream big and find a way to be big and bold with my actions.
Without our restless hearts humanity may never have achieved much, but our hearts compelled us to cross oceans in wooden boats into the unknown, to worlds beyond our atmosphere in vehicles that have broken down only to be repaired with a pen. Even the technology that allows me to express my thoughts to a worldwide audience is the product of a restless heart at some point.
What would be possible for you if you listened to your own restless heart? What bold and challenging thing could you accomplish if you could hear the longing of your own heart? Anything. Yes, everything is possible, the unthinkable becomes thinkable from within our restless hearts. What will you do today to calm your restless heart?