Learning to Listen to Your Heart

Learning to Listen to Your Heart

In the early 1980s I enrolled in a very prestigious college in New England and hated it from the outset. Although it was an all-women’s institution, it was cold, hard, and competitive. Another reason I was so unhappy there was because I ended up pursuing a curriculum I was not all that excited about, and I did not take many courses I’m sure I would’ve loved. I was pretty disconnected, and I think a lot of this was because I really wanted to be New York City where I lived, not Northampton, Massachusetts. But I stuck it out for the four-year stint; going to a great college was important to my dad, although he never pressured me, and it was expensive for both of us. I couldn’t see dropping out, and I thought there was probably some merit to sticking it out. Geez.

When I graduated, I promised myself that if I ever felt this way again, I would bail and find a new direction. It wasn’t worth sacrificing so much time and money and putting up with the heartache. My whole college career was mostly about exploring and doing things that I thought I should do, versus pursuing what felt good and exciting to me. And the clincher was that I had done this all to myself! There was never any pressure from my dad or anyone to go there- and I had specifically chosen an institution that had no course requirements! Ha!

My invaluable lesson here, and thank god I got it early on in life, was to really follow my dreams and trust my instincts, not my head. If it doesn’t feel like an opportunity, it’s not an opportunity, bottom line. I don’t have too many regrets in life as a result, and those that I could have, I’ve turned into learning tools to move forward and manifest the life I love! So listen to your heart- when you do, you’ll magically and magnetically draw to you what you love.