Carolyn Hansen: Is your mind, body and heart in alignment at an optimum level?

What is an "inner compass" and why is our connection to it so important? Photo / Getty Images

Anyone off on a wilderness, nature adventure, be it water, desert or mountains, knows it's wise to take a compass. This tool gives direction and points the way home just in case confusion sets in and they lose their way.

This same "find your way" principle applies to human nature. It is our personal "inner compass" or living guide - without it, we are lost and confused in a dense jungle of chaotic thought.

What is an "inner compass" and why is our connection to it so important? Our inner compass is our unique, guidance tool and personal connection to the great
universal intelligence, and everyone who breathes has one.

It is our true essence and the part of us that is all-powerful, all-knowing, loving, creative and limitless.

This "all-knowing" inner compass helps us choose the best possible solutions to life's issues with reliability and amazing accuracy. It is empowered to bring us into and align us with our most creative expression, highest good and fullest potential.

It is our perfect happiness and contentment gauge. It alerts us when we are off track or out of alignment with our greatest good (life becomes tough and confusing and it reflects in our emotional state of unhappiness and discontentment) and lets us know when we are moving in the right direction and in alignment with our authentic selves (life moves with ease and this too is reflected in our emotional state as levels of joy, contentment and happiness etc.).

This inner compass is a powerful "sensing tool", and if we truly want to authentically align with our higher good, we need to recognise what this personal power tool is trying to tell us.

How do we connect with and "read" what our inner compass is revealing?

Our inner compass is heart intelligence. It's an intuition that expresses itself and communicates with us through our emotional state. In other words, our feelings reveal our state of being.

If we pay attention to our feelings, they reveal to us if we are authentically aligned with our highest good or not. Unfortunately, except in extreme emotional moments, life has become so hectic and demanding that most people don't take the time to reflect inward and take note of their feelings or how they reflect and affect their state of being.

Science and spirit both agree that everything vibrates, and humans vibrate at different frequencies, all dependent on emotional states. These energetic vibrations/frequencies or emotional states can be measured on a scale that reads from 20 Hz-700 Hz, shame being the lowest, slowest emotion on the scale, reading out at 20 Hz and enlightenment being the highest expression that reads at 700 plus Hz.

In between those two numbers, ranking in order from enlightenment down, are: Peace, joy, love, reason, acceptance, willingness, neutrality, courage, pride, anger, desire, fear, grief, apathy, guilt and ending with shame.

If our emotional state of love, peace, joy and happiness rule our agenda, we can be sure we are aligned with our highest good and moving in the right direction. These high- vibrating frequencies keep us aligned with our inner compass, which vibrates solely in the realm of enlightenment.

When we feel down more often than up, it's time to slow down, get reacquainted with and start listening to our inner compass.

However, if we feel down more often than up, know that we have dropped in frequency and are wallowing in the bottom half of the frequency scale where anger, fear, guilt and shame play important roles in stealing away any possibility of enjoying peaceful, happy moments.

If that's the case, it's time to slow down, get reacquainted with and start listening to our inner compass. rethink certain aspects of our lives and examine our daily habits. What makes us happy, challenges us and fulfils us?

The key is to nurture those habits and conditions that have us vibrating on the high end of the frequency scale (joy, peace, love etc.) while eliminating those that keep us locked into lower frequencies (fear, guilt, shame etc.).

Our overactive mind must be stilled and learn to cultivate a receptive, contemplative, state of mind. When the active mind is silenced, this gentle but all-knowing voice is easily heard. This is what mindfulness is all about, connecting with and listening to our inner compass, our perfect guide.

When we feel "out of sorts" for any reason, when discomfort in our "energy" surfaces, it's our first clue that we are out of alignment with our higher good. It's time to pause and consciously breathe deeply. This helps deepen our awareness of and connection to the moment.

Our attention must shift from a world ruled by data, knowledge and facts (the mind only) to one that rules from the heart first - where our "all-knowing" inner compass resides. This mighty gem of a "sensor" continually nudges us in the right direction despite what the mind might be assuming because of sensual perception. But we must learn to listen.

Studies done at the Institute of HeartMath reveal the heart has its own intelligence and this intelligence sends out more electric and magnetic signals than the brain. It is our true power centre and once we are aligned with it, we have aligned with our authentic selves. When we move out of the world of thought, we move into the world of feeling and that's where our inner compass resides.

When we join our intuitive intelligence/inner compass/solution (the heart's job, the non-physical) with proper action (the brain's job, the physical), we create unity of intention with our higher good (both the heart and brain are now balanced, synchronised, in resonance and playing their respective roles perfectly).

We have entered the "flow" and aligned with our authentic selves and our creations now stem from the higher frequencies and attributes of peace, joy, love, acceptance, willingness, neutrality and courage.

Our inner compass is always urging us to find our highest good.

The next time you "feel" an urge or nudge to improve the quality of your life through exercise or diet, but your busy mind immediately jumps in and teases and tempts you with sensory perception, which one will you listen to? Which one will you choose?

The one aligned with your inner compass? The one that sees the big picture and "knows" what works for your overall good and happiness or the one operating for temporary, sensual pleasure?

By choosing the "high road" we create an alignment with high-frequency attributes. This not only changes us personally and the quality of our lives and circumstances for the better, but we produce permanent, positive change in the world around us. It's a true win-win!

• Carolyn Hansen is the co-owner of Anytime Fitness.