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How many expressions have you heard that pertain to the heart? Trust your heart. Let your heart be your guide. Listen to your heart. What is your heart telling you? Take heart. She wears her heart on her sleeve. A heavy heart. A broken heart. Heart-to-heart. These phrases indicate that the heart is the feeling center of ourselves as opposed to the head as the non-feeling or analytical part. Moreover, the implication is that if you want to get ahead and be successful and accomplish great things, you better leave the feelings behind and rely on hard, cold analysis of facts. But if we are willing to go a little deeper and explore what is generating a feeling, we are very likely to find that our heart can lead us to truth and to happiness much quicker and more accurately than our head can. Here's an exercise you can try that will show you what I mean. You can talk yourself into or out of almost anything but if you find yourself deep in analysis over something that's confusing or troubling you, stop. Your heart often knows why something is right or wrong. Take a few deep breaths. If you can find a quiet place, go there for a few minutes. Breathe slowly. Take your time to slow your breathing and quiet your mind. After about five or six relaxed breaths, count to 10. Then mentally, silently, shift your focus to your heart, right to the center of your chest, to your heart. Imagine your heart expanding and opening a little with each inhalation. Let your breathing settle there, in and from your heart. After just a few minutes in this relaxed, heart-focused place, bring to mind something that gives you great joy. It could be real or imaginary, a place, a person, a song, a memory...it doesn't matter what it is but only that it gives you great joy. Take another three, four, five breaths. Then take one deep breath in and blow it out and away. Go back to the issue that was troubling you and see if your heart-time-out has helped you gain some clarity. You may have a more accurate idea of why you felt confused or troubled. Your heart knows the truth of the feeling. Time spent in this way can be a useful, productive and honest adjunct to brain-only analysis. You might surprise yourself when you open your heart.