Your Classic Head/Heart Battle

Question for you: Have you ever sat down and visualized yourself completely in joy? Try it. It’s a trip!

I’ve been visualizing joyful living during meditations for a few months. Last night, a thought came to me that shook me up: if I lived with complete joy, I wouldn’t have anything to strive toward.

*Gasp!* I just rolled my eyes at Tim Ferriss over a similar comment he made on his podcast. He explained his former belief that self loathing fueled his drive. If he loved himself, he thought, his ambition would disappear.

How ridiculous!, I scoffed self righteously in my kitchen while I made soup and listened to him interview Dan Harris (great episode, by the way).

Though, here we are, with a thought not all different from Tim’s. Joy = complacency, says my brain. Startling.

The brain is an organ designed to keep its human safe and alive. To be frank (again, is this therapy?!), I’m currently in the pursuit of joy. My brain must sense greater safety in “pursuit mode” rather than in “joy mode” because the former is familiar. Moving toward joy requires change. And, change means unknown means potential danger (in brainspeak). The thought my brain threw into my awareness last night was evidence of its resistance.

Moving from seeking joy → living it means my brain needs to operate differently. Joy requires releasing worries and judgements, creating new inner dialogue, and ending behaviors that don’t match my values. Those are all habits a.k.a. easy go-tos for Brain. Letting go of the familiar? Brains aren’t into that.

BUT THEN, in sweeps my heart (shout out to hearts everywhere! ♡). That ever-present, magical force field that prompted me to start this newsletter. My heart is like, “Joy feels GOOOOOD, baby girl!”

And thus, The Classic Head/Heart Tension.

I’ve spent a lot of years letting my brain drive, unaware of its hidden agenda. But, my heart has more fun. It’s her turn to take the wheel. Let’s see where this joyride takes us.

Off we go.