How I Discovered The Power of my Heart

I think that you and I have a lot more in common than we’d like to admit… 

We are both powerful, driven, and we want success.

And we have a BIG dream…

We know that we are here to make a big difference by sharing our unique gifts and passions in service to others.

We both dream of a life where we get to express ourselves fully, have fun, enjoy deep, fulfilling relationships, and have all the money we need to be happy.

So we put on our best efforts, create strategies and plans that will make our dreams happen, and then start taking powerful, inspired action.

The world is our oyster! Right?

At first, it seems the Universe is smiling upon us. Doors open everywhere, and new opportunities begin to show up. We gladly accept the challenge to re-invent ourselves and show others how special and talented we really are.

To others, we seem confident, courageous, and powerful. “You sure have your shit together”, everyone says. 

But inside of us, there’s another reality… 

We feel alone, scared, and insecure. And to calm these feelings we seek solace in food, pornography, sex, or simply escape into a virtual dreamland where we get to feel safe and loved once again. 

It’s like having two lives.

So we are scared to ask for help, afraid of what others might think if they discovered what we’re feeling inside, and those ‘nasty little habits’ we engage in once we are in the dark. We hate ourselves even more, and we feel deeply ashamed.

Constant sabotage, paralysis, and procrastination begin to set in. Somehow, pursuing our dreams has now become a prison from which there seems to be no escape.

Or so we think…

Until something happens that wakes you up. Wakes you up to the ultimate reality that in order to realize your dream, and become who you know you came here to be, you’ll need to transcend your addictions, blocks, fears, and insecurities.

But this will require a different kind of POWER… A power that transcends your mind, intellect, force, or human will:

The Power of your Heart.

Today, I’d like to share with you the story of how I got to wake up to the power of my heart, and I promise I won’t hold back.

How I Discovered the Power of My Heart

It all started 14 years ago when I made the decision to move to Los Angeles and pursue my life long dream to become a successful  actor.

Growing up in Venezuela as a very introverted and shy kid, I secretly longed to have the same kind of power, popularity and success that movie actors had. “If only I could be a successful actor, I’d be happy”, I would tell myself.

After trying my luck in the local soap opera industry, in 2000 I finally made the decision to move to Los Angeles and relentlessly pursued my dream.

I enrolled in all the acting classes I could find, waited tables, went to auditions, worked as an extra and slowly began to climb my way up the Hollywood ladder that eventually landed me a big position at a major film studio and the opportunity to produce my first feature film.

“You’ve made it in Hollywood!”, all my friends would say. To them I was a hero, I had conquered the great entertainment giant. Even though I appeared calm, and confident when I was with them, once I was back in my tiny Hollywood apartment, alone at night, the reality was another…

I felt alone, confused, and very insecure. Somehow, I had gotten lost, and I knew this because even though I was tasting success on the outside, inside of me I still felt a big empty void. And my attempt to fill this void with anonymous sex, pornography, drugs, relationships, food, parties, personal-development workshops and other adrenalin filled experiences, only made it worst.

“Something has to change”, I would tell myself. Yet, I would do nothing about it.

Then, in 2007 I was hired to produce my second film, a project that required me to live in Cape Town, South Africa for a few months. I was very excited.

At the height of what was probably one of the most exhilarating moments of my life, it ALL came tumbling down in ways I could never have foreseen…

During the span of a week I was mugged, fired from my producing job, and received the news my mother had died of a tumor she had been diagnosed only two weeks before.

I was devastated, heart broken and feeling deeply ashamed and alone. All my friends were far away while I was in a country where I hardly knew anyone. My biggest fears, all manifesting in one week. If there is a hell, this was it.

After what I can only recall as a night filled with alcohol, food, and sex with strangers, I remember thinking, “Something has to change, and that something is me.”

For the first time in my life, I was coming to terms with the reality that what had to change was not ‘something’ outside of me. What had to change was me. I, not my circumstances, had to change.

Walking along Cape Town’s famous Long Street, I desperately walked into one of those alternative bookstores where you can get a psychic reading. So I immediately signed up for a session with a woman named Joanne.

As I was about to enter the dimly lit room in which fortunes were foretold, a hand grabbed me and stopped me from going inside.

“Hi, I’m Joanne. Our meeting will take place outside, in the Company Gardens”, the short woman in her mid-40’s said.

Sitting in a quiet, lush corner of the garden under a Sago palm, I poured my heart out to Joanne. “What should I do?”, I asked her.

The following is my recollection of the words she spoke…

“Inside your heart there’s a treasure. You’ve been ignoring it all these years, swiftly running away from it. But this treasure is now catching up with you. It wants you to seize it, claim it, discover it. All these events had to happen so that your heart could break open, and enough light come inside to reveal the treasure that’s you came here to manifest. It’s time.”

“Manifest? But how?”, I said.

“Just listen to your heart. But listen closely, with all of your attention as if your life depended on it. Because it does.”

With these last words, she quickly excused herself and left.

So it was in the midst of my pain, my shame, and loneliness that I started to listen, truly listen to the sound of my beating heart.

As I wondered what to do, I started to notice my heart beat diminished and lost power whenever I thought of returning back to Los Angeles; but grew in intensity and power when I thought of staying in South Africa and beginning a whole new life.

Was my heart communicating with me?

Beginning anew in South Africa scared the hell out of me. How would I do this? I had no money, no friends, no job, no mother to tell me everything was going to be alright? What about immigration, finding a place to stay? What would I do? How would I earn money?

It made absolutely no sense at all. Yet my beating heart was telling me otherwise. So I started listening more, and taking baby steps, one step after the other, and here I am today…

Yesterday I celebrated seven years since my arrival in Cape Town. And when I look at how much I’ve changed, how much I’ve grown, I can hardly believe who I’ve become. The life I’m now living is in greater harmony and alignment with who I’ve always been. I’ve never felt so alive, so me, so clear about who I came here to be. 

And it all started when I began to listen to the wisdom, guidance, and direction of my heart. Such is the power of your heart!

In my online course, ‘Manifesting from the Heart’, I share with you all the tools, techniques, and wisdom I tried and tested along my journey of re-inventing myself, overcoming my addictions, and becoming more me. One that ultimately led me to become a Heart Intelligence Coach, and help many people who, like me, long to live fully from their hearts.  

So, if you’re still reading this, then I guess I might just be right…

You’re a lot like me. 🙂 

So just keep listening to your heart, because, as Joanne said to me, your life – the life you came here to express – depends on it!

Love.