The Power of the Heart: Finding Your True Purpose in Life (30 page)

I had the great privilege of interviewing Angelou in her home. Spontaneously, she told me why she had agreed immediately to my request for an interview: she believed that it was precisely at this stage of her full life that she could encourage others to understand why it is
so essential that we live from our hearts—whoever we are, wherever we come from, and whatever we have experienced.

If I had to describe Angelou in one word, based on my meeting with her, I would choose
resilience
. Angelou spoke of the brutal racism she had faced in her youth and the tragic events she had experienced and witnessed. Angelou helped civil rights leader and reformer Malcolm X found the Organization of African-American Unity, and also acted as Northern Coordinator for the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. With the assassination of Malcolm X, followed shortly after by that of King—on April 4, her birthday—Angelou felt her world collapse.

Yet Angelou was not bitter. Through the years, she was able to turn those events into wisdom. She told me that she would not allow the unfairness of life to maneuver her into the position of a victim. All the grief that she experienced increased the resilience of her soul. “Bitterness is like cancer,” she said. “It consumes you.

“You do not have to drown your sorrows, but you should always try to get the joy back,” Angelou said. Then she sang the chorus of a beautiful gospel song, to emphasize her words:

Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there

Leave it there, leave it there

Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

If you trust and never doubt, He will surely bring you out.

Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Life can be hard. The course of your life will present many challenges. Setbacks are inevitable and there are forces that you cannot control: illness,
a bad economy, layoffs, the death of loved ones. Your heart can help you deal with all of these and put you in touch with your soul’s innate resilience.

 MAYA ANGELOU

Every day you work at it. Every day you go to the heart, every day you speak to me. Every day you try to do the right thing, by the right people, all the time.

Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.

—JOHN WESLEY

Even if you realize that life will never be the same again, you can learn and grow from dealing with your troubles. Going through a difficult period can make you stronger. More often than not, the experience of having been severely tested and thrown back on your own resources enables a better quality of life to take shape.

No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.

—BUDDHA

You need to find the courage to trust the wise counsel of your heart, even at moments of disappointment and sadness. Then you can begin to truly believe that a setback is not the end of the world, but can actually bring about an interesting turn in your life.

 MAYA ANGELOU

That is the heart knocking on your door saying, “Open the door, here I am, you need me.” Because then you say, “Oh, look at where I am, I’m in hell. I didn’t know that.” But the heart tells you, “Trust me, I will bring you out of that.”

 MICHAEL BECKWITH

Life is full of challenges. Challenges and hardships oftentimes are the intense heat and fire that break us open to discover gifts, talents, and capacities that are lying within us.

When life does not go your way, your mind may churn out fatalistic and oppressive scenarios, noticing limitations instead of opportunities. These worst-case scenarios will make the obstacles feel like a life sentence and would have you believe that life after getting fired or the failure of your relationship is no longer worth living. But if you tear yourself away from these thoughts by entering into a dialogue with your heart, you will be rewarded with the confidence that you will eventually get through this difficult phase.

 PAULO COELHO

When you’re defeated and you suffer, don’t pretend that you’re spiritually superior. Sit down and cry. Say, “Oh my God, why did you forsake me?” You are allowed to cry, you are allowed to be defeated, don’t try to avoid suffering, this is just cheating
yourself. But give it a time frame, let’s say one week, one month, whatever. And then suffer with all your strength. You know? Say, “Okay, I am going to suffer, I am going to cry, I am not going to eat, I am going to eat a lot, I am going to do this, I am going to do that, I am going to complain, I am going to insult sometimes the divine energy.” But then you say to yourself, “Okay, this is part of life.” Don’t give up, you live this situation with a strength that you did not know you had. Don’t be coward enough to avoid suffering. Suffer! That’s not wrong.

I suffer a lot. I had a lot of opposition. But still, when I overcome this, and I say, “I am not going to be paralyzed by that, I’m not going to comply with what they think I should do.” I feel stronger, and it is good for me.

The source of wisdom is whatever is going to happen to us today. The source of wisdom is whatever is happening to us right at this instant.

—PEMA CHÖDRÖN

 HOWARD MARTIN

When we make that move to go deeper in ourselves, we find the intelligence of the heart. And when we do, more hopeful, secure perspectives begin to emerge. Even our inner dialogue can change. We may end up having inner thoughts of things like “This is a terrible situation and I don’t know how I’m gonna get through it, but I’ve been through tough things before and I’ve found a way. I bet I’ll find a way this time.” That is the intelligence of the heart speaking to you.

Because your heart has a greater perspective on your life than your brain does, it can show you a way of handling a problem. Perhaps losing your job will be the stepping-stone to a new working environment where you learn new skills. Perhaps you will find a new way to give love after losing someone you love. Stay connected with your heart and listen for its guidance.

 PAULO COELHO

All of a sudden you face tragedy and say, “Oh my God, what’s the meaning of life?” And then, instead of being scared by a tragedy, you say, “I am going to change my life. I am going to do something that is important to me, not something that they told me to do.”

When you can view a setback through the lens of your heart, it may not change the actual setback, but it does alter your perception of it. You can only pick up your life again when you have the courage to follow your heart and trust that your soul will take you to your destination.

 MICHAEL BECKWITH

When we become aware that challenges are a part of our unfolding of our soul, that they are a part of life, that they are a part of this incarnation, part of this spiritual quest, we approach them differently. We intend to have a spiritual practice where our focus is about growing, where our focus is about unfolding, where our focus is about becoming more ourselves.

When you can view difficulty as a test, which will only strengthen your soul, you will in time discover that, although the setback was inevitable and you did not expect or deserve it, it did help you grow.