Harken to your heart. That means to listen to it so it can be heartened.

Just as you feel good when you are listened to, it is the same with your heart. A heart, when heard, is ennobled. Otherwise, it is slighted or cast aside. It knows the difference. Woe to the heart that has no ear to it.

This does not mean to listen only to your heart when it is happy. It means to listen also to your heart when it is sad. A sad heart is not telling you to be sad, but it is telling you to take a look at something. The heart does not just sit around. It has a message for you. It is telling you something — a variation of something — that you need to hear. Even a bird singing outside your window is telling you something. What is it?

Of course, a heart has no words. And you are not always sure what the message is and what it means. Is it to go forward or to turn around? When your heart feels heavy, it is laden. That much is clear. What can you do to lighten your heart?

You would not like someone to drag you around. You wouldn't like someone to just take you around with them everywhere without consulting you, to just cart you around like a heavy shoe. What place do you give your heart to play in your life? Have you perhaps tossed it into to the back seat?

Your heart beats a tom-tom that is for you to hear. Give your heart its due. Find out what it is saying. When you listen to your heart, it will not have to beat so loud.

Have you not tried to hush up your heart? You have wanted it to be more peaceful. You may not have wanted to hear what it has to say. You may think it causes you trouble. It interrupts your train of thought, but the way to your heart is to listen to it.

How often I have told you to follow your heart, but I see now that first you must listen to it.

Your heart may be telling you to rest, to pause, to wait until later. It may be telling you to get going. In any case, your heart is like a lead sled dog. It is telling you something, and you can learn.

Sometimes it is not clear when it is your heart speaking or your ego. Both want to lead you. One is wholly in your best interest, while the other would like you to think so. This much you can be sure of: you are listening to something or someone somewhere. Your ego or your heart is being fed. What do you pick up? The words you hear are one thing. Your heart may pick up something else.

Listen to your heart more than the words you hear. Your heart is your antenna to the world. Your heart is your ear to the ground. Your heart is also your pathway to the stars. What a great thing is the heart that you have! What you can be sure of is that the depth of your heart is honest. It would speak the truth to you and have you hear it.

Well then, let your heart be heard. Encourage your heart to whisper to you, for it would keep no secrets.