Author Guest Post with Toby Negus

The mind has a phenomenal ability to create and the heart has an endless will to share the love we feel about life.

Welcome to the December 2nd stop on the blog tour for The Heart Knows What the Mind Cannot See by Toby Negus with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.

Author Guest Post

It has been said that the greatest regret of the dying is that they wished they’d been truer to themselves. As if there is a life’s purpose in being who we are. As if who we are is a purpose. But where within ourselves do we go to find this truth, this thing of who we are that makes life worth living? Where is the source of our authenticity and what would truly make us happy, for they are intricately linked. We can never be happy without living the truth of ourselves. It is the heart that holds the answer because It knows us intimately; our dreams, our hopes and our loves. It is where we will always go to know what is truly important to us, what it is that we would not want to live without. But the heart is no place of shallow emotions or vain morality. It is the source of a passion and power that has created all the lights of the world. All great art and all the acts of humanity have been born from the heart because all beauty is created from the idea of love. Love is the heart’s purpose and our unique loves of life are its signature. Without its love, hope has no home, courage no direction, and fortitude no purpose. The heart is the home to the deeper dream of who we love to be and is the companion that is loyal to our purpose of life. When we follow our heart we have no regret because the heart’s wish is for our happiness

When we were very young, we lived from the heart. There was little separation between our heart and our act of life. We loved easily and carried the freedom and creativity because of it. But we live in a busy world and its pursuit for ‘more’ of what we do not need, has made the things of life more important than our love. These false prophets have subjugated the heart and left us bereft of its presence. It has made the head the master and the heart its servant. So now, instead of the head using its great abilities of thinking and reasoning for the purpose of the heart, it has become lost in its own struggle for identity.

The heart is the source of our truth. Not the truth of yesterday or tomorrow that the mind struggles to know, but the truth of the moment, the living truth. When we speak from the heart it is always powerful. When we live from the heart it is always an adventure. The head may be good at sorting and planning in the outer world. But is not so good at being with the moments of life. That is the heart’s art. The head is just too slow and clumsy to perceive and know the cause of the manifested world, its energy and its meaning.

But how can we unlock this power of perception and power that exists within the heart of us. What attitudes can we summon will bring its love of life into the light of the day. And what do we need to let go of that makes us feel unworthy of the dreams we have of life?

The biggest obstacle to the love of the heart is Fear. Its energy is the opposite of love.  Fear and its siblings, anxiety and stress close the heart. They dampen our passion  and make us unwilling to trust the knowings of the heart. Love, gratitude, kindness and the hearts infinite power of self-healing become out of reach because of the fears we carry. Fear is insipid. It creeps in through the holes within our integrity; lesions created from the doubt and uncertainty we have of ourselves, and of life.

If we do not have some love in who we are and what we do, we will make room for fear. We will step back from the inspired action in fear of the unknown. We will hold onto our truth in fear of what others may think. We will get in the way of the light and create a shadow of ourself. We then, over time, assume that the shadow is who we are and accept it as a true companion. But this is not so, fear is an illusion. It evaporates whenever we touch our heart and know what is truly important to us.

The heart is the custodian of our destiny for without heart our life has no meaning. It is our authentic touch in life that holds our path and our purpose. But knowing our heart is not so easy. We can’t read our heart through the turmoil of our own inhospitality, because all its guidance and love are smudged by the defiance we hold against ourselves; to the parts of us we deem unworthy or inadequate.

We do not love the grumpy of us, the sad of us, the hostile of ourselves, the parts of us that act as if we do not care. We name them as ‘not me’ and so drive a sword into ourselves, separating consciousness into the good and the bad, the worthy and the unworthy. We declare this part of us a disturber of the peace a foe to our purpose, an antagonist to our harmony and so become the intolerant parent to the hurting child within; the part of us that is in distress, in need of understanding, in need of love.

But if we can get close to our heart, it does bring kindness, not just to other people but more importantly to ourselves. It allows us to forgive and have mercy on ourselves. For when we are in our heart we know that we are family, the all of us. The good, the bad and the ugly; the parts of us that we love and the parts of us we do not.

Toby Negus

About the Book

The Heart Knows What the Mind Cannot See
by Toby Negus

Published 24 November 2014
Original ARt & Words

Genre: Self-help
Page Count: 252
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

This is a thought-provoking and enlightening exploration of spirituality and perception. The text functions as a guide to self-improvement, with a mixture of autobiographical elements and snippets of universal wisdom. The speaker provides accessible solutions to life’s difficulties, and an outlook of optimism applicable to any circumstance. The illustrations and graphics are thoughtfully chosen, and the interactive textual elements give this work an originality that sets it apart. The speaker’s own experiences and conclusions are at the heart of this fiction, and the first person narrative voice creates a sense of proximity between author and reader. The text describes itself as ‘a journey to the heart’, and this truthful discovery of the self is reflected in the speaker’s revelation of his whole self through the text.

Frequent use of direct address and rhetorical questions promotes an active reading experience, in which the author opens up a dialogue with the reader. The text includes prompts and activities for the reader to engage with and learn from. Encouraging readers to take part in the text is emblematic of their journey to self-fulfillment and love, in which they must take responsibility for actively creating their own happiness.

The speaker depicts his process of enlightenment as a framework for others to emulate, and the format of the text demonstrates the transfer of agency to those who take part in the speaker’s challenges. This work ultimately teaches us that ‘we are the cause of what is’ and thus sheds light on the crucial idea that every individual has the power to create themselves and their world positively.

Currently on sale in Kindle eBook format for $0.99 USD!

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK

Excerpt

A song without heart carries no life.

It is from the heart that comes so many defining qualities of love and the human adventure of life. It is the source of our abiding happiness, because the wish of the heart is for our happiness. It knows what is best for us because it knows us intimately. Within its chamber lives our loves, hopes, and our dreams.

The heart is the source of all the world’s greatness. It can pull star dreams to earth, for the heart has created all the wonders of the world, all the gifts of humanity and all the songs of love. It is the home of an innocence, a wise innocence that dispels the cynicism I hold in myself and of myself.

It is the place of our truth, not the truth of yesterday or tomorrow that my mind struggles to know, but the truth of the moment, the living truth. And when I allow it, it is a cathedral of light, a library of illumined text that describes the union of my heaven and earth.  Its call has the power to move mountains or create the gentlest touch of love. It is the artist within, the writer of meanings, and the manifestor of dreams.

Although we live in a world of this-and-that, there is within the heart the dreams of forever and memories of the infinite.

About the Author

Toby Negus has studied and taught spiritual and personal development in the UK and around the world for over two decades. He is qualified in advanced counselling, as a life coach and as a Cognitive Behaviour therapist. He is an Amazon best-selling author of a collaborative Conscious Creators book and has illustrated and self published two books on the subject of self-awareness and the spiritual journey. He is also a published author of a children’s book The Boy Who Dreamed in Colour. He has given talks and run workshops in support of his published work within the UK.

In the last few years, he has created many pieces of artwork that are a reflection of his spiritual journey. These have appeared in magazines and have been exhibited in the UK.  

Website | Facebook | YouTube | Amazon

Giveaway Alert!

Toby Negus will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.