So much of our childhood and schooling is learning about following authorities and doing what’s expected of us outside the world “as opposed to connecting to our inner truth to discover what we have to bring, where we feel called to be creative or to care”. 

How would the world change if more of us lived our truths from the heart? EQ expert Matthew Shaw Smith shares his journey of exploring the heart and reveals how we can only feel truly accepted when we are true to ourselves.

TIME STAMPS

01:20 The value of exploring the heart

• Exploring the heart for me is a space in which we can tune into that which we really value as opposed to living out what we’ve been taught or conditioned is valuable. 
• So, for me, exploring the heart has really been a process of an inquiry into who I am in the world and what really is meaningful to me.

02:46 Join the free email mini course on exploration of the heart

03:07 How would the world change if more people lived from the heart?

• The more we can be authentic in expressing our individual values, talents, and gifts, the more we actually find ourselves connecting with others. 

• We can never feel truly accepted, belonging, part of the collective when we are hiding or playing into roles as opposed to showing up as our fantastically flawed selves.

• [When we show up as our fantastically flawed selves] then we tend to serve the collective better. 

If I really care about children and my authentic self starts to really serve in that place and, then, someone shows up and they really care about animals and they start to take care of that, slowly the challenges in the world are addressed. Not because we each have to care about everything, but because we each show up in service in the place that really calls to our heart. 

07:50 Matt shares his journey of exploring the heart

12:36 What has been most serving in connecting you to your heart and your authentic truth?

• A common factor is stillness – learning to be more present in reality without being so caught up in the dynamics of our minds.

• Another thing for me is nature. I feel most alive when I’m trail running in the forest or up in the mountains. Just spending time in nature has also been deeply connecting for me.

15:21 Why Liz does the work she does and what living from the heart means to her

• As a younger person [and probably so far as into my mid-20s], play and joyfulness was definitely my natural state. It was easy and it was unconscious. 

But as I got older and you’re now responsible for earning a living and you try to make it in the world, I got really burdened by the responsibility and heaviness of the way life looks in the systems and organizations. 

In that space, I felt like a lot of me disappeared. 

16:32 The navigational power of emotions

• “Anger was one of my key breakthrough points to recognize I was ignoring how I was in the world.” Liz 

• “Recognizing our feeling status as a navigational system or as indicators for what’s going on within our thoughts, there’s generally some connection between what our thoughts are doing and what we’re feeling.” Matt 

23:10 14-day email course – Exploring the Heart

• We decided to explore seven aspects of the heart we felt could really add value and help people begin to dive into their own journey or deepen their own journey of exploring their heart, their truth, their authenticity. 

Those seven aspects are stillness, patience, courage, playfulness, discernment, trust, and grace. 

Quotes

Exploring the heart

• It is our uniqueness that provides a foundation that connects us.

• “When we can truly give ourselves into that which we value within ourselves, we find our place within the network of everything and we can then offer our greatest contribution.” Matt

• “As I become different from the norm, I find myself connecting more and more.”

On nature for connecting to our heart

• I love books and yet I found there’s an aspect of my heart that I absolutely cannot connect into through just verbal or learned knowledge. It really does come through connecting with the elements. 

• There is something deeply, inherently wise about spending time in nature.

Candice on the navigational power of emotions

• I see emotions as the language of the heart because they can also really help us get in touch with the truth of who we are.

Check out these other episodes with Matthew Smith:

• Episode 38 – Embodied EQ | Tension and Trauma Release Exercises
• Episode 35 – Presence! Release Stress and Restore Peace 

Resources Mentioned

Check out the free 14-day email course on Exploring the Heart

Connect with Matthew Shaw Smith

Up Next on EQ Evolution: Episode 69 – Diving into Stillness

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