Getting out of my head and into my heart is something I’ve had to work on — and still do. Knowledge used to be power for me. Listening to, and learning from the best teachers, being smart, having the answers, all equaled power and success. I distinctively remember being at a point where none of this worked. I remember saying out loud, “It’s not for lack of knowledge that I’m in this place in my life!”

I didn’t know what I needed, but it wasn’t what I was doing. To recover, I had to get out of my head and into my heart. Instead of filling my head with new teachers, I had to remove myself from the “voices out there” and go within myself. The answers I thought I had were not working; my life was unmanageable and I didn’t know why. If it wasn’t more knowledge, what did I need?

Inside was a churning, a yearning to experience. Carolyn Myss says, “People don’t want to just know God, they want to experience God.” I had a lot of head knowledge; I knew a lot, but now I was being called to experiences. I had to enter a world of unknowing, of uncertainty, and that was sheer terror to my mind and ego. Yet, deep inside an Inner Voice was pulling me to a freedom I had not yet tasted. This required me to walk away from people I had been intimately connected with, and the ways I previously learned.

Simultaneously, I was assigned walking in nature as a recovery tool. I started out with a simple prayer, “What do You have for me today?” I walked so much that I shared about it by saying, “I walked like Forrest Gump ran.” As I started out on my walks, my mind did what it normally did by racing frantically in an effort to “figure it all out.” After a while, I realized it took me about 1.5 miles before my mind started to slow down and I became more attached to my body. Over time, spaces inside began to open for me to feel what I was feeling, to listen between the footsteps, and have new awareness of things around me — opening a whole new world for me.

I encourage you to find these heart spaces within yourself with whatever recovery tool works best for you. Find spaces to really feel what you’re feeling, and take a few minutes to fully experience it. Once you’ve had time to experience it, make an inner connection with what your heart is saying — and from that place — follow your inspiration and guidance.

Cheri Thomas

Cheri works as a Peer Support Specialist for RI in Arizona. She has experienced loss and grief which has led her to write for the masses to bring voice to those in similar situations. Cheri possesses a deep passion to share with, encourage, and inspire others on what she calls the Journey of the Heart.