Listen To Your Heart Songs 
& Touch Your Soul

By Laura Hess

When your heart sings do you hear it? Do you know the music of your heart? Do you know what makes your heart sing and do your feet dance at the same time? When was the last time you remember feeling such lightness of spirit it was as if you were one with the world?

You've heard that eyes are the windows to the soul. If that's true, your heart is the doorway inside. For most of us, the door has been locked and the key thrown away. And if we don't find the key to unlock the door and touch our hearts, we will also never find the balance, peace and happiness so many are looking for.

Intellectually we understand that peace comes from inside. We agree we must look inside for that which we desperately want. Emotionally, though, we falter and lack the experience, the wisdom or the esteem to trust what we feel as truth and follow it. Even more, when we do, for a brief moment, touch our hearts, we become frightened and pull back quickly. To feel the ecstasy of a pure heart/soul connection is so foreign to us, it feels, somehow, wrong.

How easy it is to cheat and deceive ourselves. When the truth is that connection it is a divine gift of self-love and wholeness.

I am a seeker, a spiritual dabbler. I've done many things looking for the experience of the connection, wanting to feel the sense of wholeness in myself. I get close when I'm gardening or doing creative things, just not quite there. Then I "accidentally" found the key to my door...the harp.

It's so amazing to me how the Universe supports us and brings us to our personal truth if we choose to listen. I wasn't even aware of what was happening in the beginning. I started listening to Celtic harp music and collecting all the CDs I could find. There was something in the music that touched me in a deep place. I didn't understand the words and it didn't matter. The magic was in the music.

Then I saw a Celtic lap harp in one of my many mail-order catalogues. For the next year I kept looking at the picture, longing for it. There was something about it that called to me. I finally ordered one. When the long-awaited package arrived, I unpacked it, looked at it, touched it and tuned it for days. Then I discovered I couldn't learn to play it from a book and it was relegated to the hearth where I admired it from afar, continuing to be drawn to it.

At the end of 2000, I decided 2001 would be the year I learned to play my harp. My husband gave me perhaps the greatest gift I'd ever received though I didn't know it at the time. One month of harp lessons.

At my first lesson I got to touch a concert pedal harp and my heart was revealed. It was as if I was transported someplace else and I felt connected to the harp, to the world and to myself. I was grounded. I hadn't even completed my first month of lessons before I knew I needed (yes, NEEDED) to buy a full-sized harp. I did and she now occupies a prominent place in our living room. She is a beautiful instrument to look at and so much more. When I sit down to play I'm an extension of the harp and the harp is an extension of me. And when I play, it's as if the music from the strings gives voice to the music in my heart and of my soul.

The lesson (and where have we heard this before) is, "Pay attention!"

How many times have you felt pulled in a direction and held yourself back out of concern for how it might look or what others might think? What "calling" have you denied for the sake of somebody else's expectation of you? Where do you feel empty?

We all have at least one key to our heart and soul and we all want that connection to self and the divine within. When you pay attention, you will discover what the key is for you.

So here are a couple of things for you to do now, to maybe remove the veil that clouds your vision

1. What are the things you've done in your life that have just plain felt good? Where have you felt free and light? When have you felt grounded and connected? Make a list of all the things you can think of. Go back as far as you can remember. Nothing's too small. The key is there.

2. Once you have your list, look at each of the things you listed and connect back to what it was about the experience, the place or the time that compelled you to include it on the list. Is there a common thread? Reconnect with the feelings now.

3. What have you been drawn to, over and over again, in your life and have avoided pursuing? What's been your resistance to following the "call?" Answer the call.

4. If you're challenged with the first three explorations, create the vision of what it would be like for you to feel that connection. Be playful. Anything is possible. Let your heart be your guide. Get out of your head.

Finally, start using what you learned here and make it part of your life now. Do more of what opens your heart and touches your soul even if it's a small thing to start.

My key was the harp. Do you know what yours is?

Laura Hess is a Personal and Business Coach working with people wanting more for themselves and opening her clients' minds to the unlimited possibilities for a great life. She resides in Las Vegas and is a free-lance writer. 800-870-3877 or 702-252-3657. Visit her website at www. SPARCKint.com or email laura@sparckint.com