Remaining Heart-Led in the Face of Cruelty

“Leading With the Heart” is a lovely sentiment…but how can our hearts protect us in the face of cruelty?

“When Your Heart Can’t Save You” is the title of Chapter 3 in my debut book, Leading With the Heart.

The story opens in my elementary school days, when I was the consummate heart-led Pollyanna. I was a poor girl in a wealthy school district, but I had so much love to give—nothing could stop my shine.

I loved to make friends with everyone—my classmates, my teachers, my bus driver, and the sweetest janitor of all time, Humberto. My heart carried me along and I was a truly inspired and happy child, despite much of the sadness and depression that engulfed my home life.

But then 5th grade came along.

And there she was.

My first mean girl.

My kindness was haughtily dismissed, my hand-me-down clothes scornfully appraised. “What kinds of jeans are those?” she said, with a smirk.

And so began a gut-wrenching new experience for me. And it was the first time I could not find the answers within my heart. Anxiety, tears and depression became the new norm for me. I skipped over 30 days of school that year, just to escape her.

For a time, I struggled with what I felt was the injustice of it all. Why did the mean people get to win? Why did she get to have it all?

But mercifully, by the end of that year, I learned a deeper truth. Suffering is inextricably universal.

Everyone has their own story of deep suffering. Even my mean girl could never have behaved that way were it not for her own personal hell she was enduring.

Even if you can’t always see it. It is present for each of us in one way or another.

But as we come back to the powerful intelligence of our hearts, we are returned to the higher truth of it all - we are right back on the path again, ready to take action from this supreme place of wisdom.

Leading With the Heart is a win-win, sure-thing answer to our every question. It is normal to be lost, to forget, to fall into seasons of despair, judgment and anger—but it is never, ever too late to come home, once again. And for that, I will always be grateful.