I watched a witty movie last night called, The Art of Lying. This movie sums up some of the things I have been saying in my articles, that people are not living their lives the way they really want to. The movie says a lot about our society, that people are disguising their pain and that there is an undercurrent of judgement and pressure to be what others want you to be. I love the saying, follow your heart. Everyone has heard that saying, but very few are actually listening to their hearts. We are in a fear driven society. Why would people think for themselves when the messages from the media, religions, family and friends are of fear, worry and doubt. Just watch the news for one hour and you'll be downloaded with all sorts of fear based information! Why aren't more people really listening to their hearts. When you reflect on your life, you can identify those moments when you listened to your heart. As a child, you naturally let your heart lead the way. You knew what toy you really wanted and nobody could talk you out of it. You knew as a child the activities you loved and the ones you hated. Children are so pure and raw about that. If a child does not like ballet, they'll scream, "I hate it, I don't want to go!" Children also know which friends make them feel good and the one's that don't. They will say, "I don't like him, he's not nice to me." But, adults day by day, condition kids to stop listening to their hearts. They tell them, "I paid good money for those lessons, you'll like it if I tell you to." A child who loves music will beg to play an instrument and a parent will say, "you can play the trumpet, because that's what I played" or "I never took music classes and I turned out just fine." Adults will dissuade kids from what they really like, "you don't really like that do you?" Regarding friends, adults will heavily influence children to play with who they deem acceptable. Parents dress kids like display mannequins, trying to live up to an image. Adults are constantly steering kids away from who they really are. No wonder that by the time we all reach adulthood, we don't even know who we are or what we really like anymore. If we do happen to know what we like, we've been so conditioned by fear and doubt, that the moment you decide to take a risk and follow you heart, your internal voice screams, "that's crazy, it won't work, or why would you do that?" Get to the heart of the matter, so to speak. Remember who you really are underneath the image, the facade and the show. Who do you really love being around, what are your passions and honor your gut feelings. Listen to your heart because it always knows the way. If you live and love fearlessly, you'll never regret it!
