Today’s world is very stressful. We put pressure on ourselves on a daily basis, at work, at home, at school, and that pressure never releases. Day after day, year after year, stress builds, putting more and more strain on our minds and bodies until one day things just fall apart: the result is burnout, illness, or depression. This is the conventional understanding.

However, is that all there is to it? Perhaps there is a deeper, more spiritual interpretation of our high stress levels. Let’s dig a little deeper into this issue.

Where does your heart go?

Each person has a unique set of gifts that are ideally suited to a particular role in the world, and a character that is perfectly suited to being fulfilled and happy in that role. Another way of looking at this is to say that your Higher Self or Soul has a plan or purpose for your life. If our lives go in that direction, we are naturally happy.

However, if we make our decisions based on other priorities and go in a direction that does not suit us, it will be spiritually uncomfortable. This discomfort produces stress: it’s like trying to fit the proverbial square peg into a round hole.

So how do you know which path is right for you? The answer is quite simple. The language of the Higher Self is the language of feelings. When you are on the right path in life, your heart feels good. Your heart will be full of joy, motivation and certainty; you will feel inspired and there will be a certain spark in what you do. If you head in another direction, your head may tell you that you’re doing the right or sensible thing, but your heart won’t agree. You will never be able to find that spark in your life if your heart is not on board with your path. Without that spark, you can wither inside.

Imagine yourself starting the path of your life. You start moving in one direction. However, your Higher Self and your heart are heading in another direction. The more time passes, the more you grow apart, and as you and your Higher Self are linked to each other, the more you stretch. According to the laws of mechanics, the more something is stretched, the greater the stress and strain. Therefore, if you are on the wrong path, stress will increase dramatically over time. Eventually, you will separate.

My own example: What not to do!

In my case, I was forcing myself to be a scientist while my heart knew I was a healer. If I’m honest with myself, I’ve known for years that I was on the wrong path. I ignored the signs because my scientific career was more important. I started to suffer from anxiety, severe insomnia, recurring throat infections, but I ignored them all and kept going back to work. At that time, my Higher Self was yelling at me to stop and keep going, but I still ignored it.

Finally, I got so sick that I had to give up my scientific career. On one level, you could say that my stress level just became too much to handle. However, I now believe that my illness was my Higher Self’s last desperate attempt to put me on the right path in life. The lesson was hard and it took me a decade to conquer myself. However, the fact is that now, as a healer, I have an inner spark that I never felt as a scientist. Also, health and happiness have returned to my life in abundance.

So ask yourself, are you on the right track in your life? Tune your heart. What is he saying? Have you been ignoring his messages? I wish I had listened to my heart sooner! By listening to your heart and acting on your wisdom, you could save yourself years of illness and trauma – that’s something to think about!