The Mentorship Program

 Preparation for the Sessions

The Intuitive Heart Discovery Process*

Henry Reed

The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.  We know the truth, not only by reason, but by the heart.

Blaise Pascal, Pensees No. 4

After learning the Intuitive Heart Discovery Method, Pepe was anxious to try out his newly-discovered ability.  He asked his friend, Demetri, to help him.

Pepe explained that he was experimenting with his intuitive storytelling skills.  He would, he said, intuitively draw upon his personal memories and make a story out of one of them.  He would make it a teaching story, something to learn from, by adding his own reflections on what lessons the memory taught him.  Pepe said he hoped the story might touch Demetri in some way, maybe even be pertinent to one of Demetri’s personal concerns.  Demetri agreed to think of some question, or challenge he faced, something that he cared about, without telling Pepe what it was.

Pepe held Demetri in his heart for a moment of silence.  He then explained that a memory came to him of his childhood in Yugoslavia.  Pepe’s father worked in East Germany and came home about once a year.  Without his father around, Pepe was used to playing alone.  He remembered a particular day when he was playing with his toys and his father arrived on an unexpected visit.

“I ran up and gave him a big hug,” Pepe said.  “I told him, 'Papa, come and see what I’ve made with my toys!’  My father said he was impressed, and then he played with me.  I was so proud that, while he was away, I had created something that he approved of.”  As Pepe reflected on the memory and the wisdom it might teach, he said it reminded him of the importance of taking initiative on his own and using his own abilities to their fullest, and that good surprises and rewards can come later as a result of his efforts.

Demetri became very excited at Pepe’s story.  He revealed that he secretly had thought of this question: “Should I start up my new business selling greeting cards?”

“I pray to God about this new business,” Demetri explained.  “But God doesn’t answer.  I don’t win the lottery.  I don’t find money.  And I’ve been almost angry that my prayers are ignored.  But in your story, you started something on your own, and then your father came and blessed it.  I realize that I must start myself to get this business going, and then perhaps God will bless my efforts.”

  Pepe, who said he had almost pushed the memory away because it hadn’t seemed like much, was pleased to hear how it touched Demetri.

  When they met again a couple of months later, Demetri had started his own business, and it was going well.  He thanked Pepe for telling him just the story he needed to hear.

  What Pepe was able to do for his friend, you can do, too.  Using the Intuitive Heart Discovery Process, you can find, from your own memories and experiences, stories that inspire important truths, insights and wisdom.  You will be able to discover within yourself a source of guidance that makes a difference in your own life and in the lives of those around you.  You’ll discover that your own Intuitive Heart has a special wisdom that seems almost magical, yet is perfectly natural.

  First, the training will begin by taking you through the Intuitive Heart Discovery Process step by step.  You’ll start by practicing some enjoyable steps in relaxation and feeling good.  These are very natural procedures, once you understand them, and very important to placing you in the most conducive frame of mind to promote your natural intuition. 

  You then will continue your training with the help of a cooperating partner.  You can enlist the aid of anyone who has a question or concern with which you want to help.  It’s simple and easy to do, and as you practice it, you will see that it works.  It’s easier to begin learning the intuition process by working with a partner, let me assure you, than it is to begin working with for yourself alone.  For one thing, your natural intuition is activated most easily by a desire to help someone else.  Later, I’ll explain some additional reasons why working with a partner is so helpful.  I’ll also describe all the special power that lies behind each of the steps.  Understanding what goes on “behind the scenes” can make your practice more meaningful and even more effective.

  So now, let me briefly introduce you to the steps of the Intuitive Heart Discovery Process.  You don’t have to worry at this point about actually doing the steps.  Just read the brief summaries of each one to get an overall picture of what the process involves.  Once you have the big picture, we will revisit the steps in much greater detail by devoting an entire chapter to each one and letting you practice as we go along.  You soon will discover that each step contains a wealth of surprises and benefits for you.

Step 1: Becoming Mindful of The Breath

“Let the counsel of thine own heart stand.” Matthew 37:13

When you have chosen a partner and the two of you are comfortably seated facing each other, have your partner think about the question or concern, even writing it down if that helps your partner hold it in awareness.

  You are ready to begin, by learning to shift “gears” and move into a frame of mind that is receptive to intuition.  To begin making this shift, gently focus your attention on your breathing. 

  Attention to your breathing can help to move your awareness into a type of “flow” state Ñ as in the “flow” of your breathing.  This shift in consciousness is an important first step.  Although your intention is to be helpful through your intuitive ability, we already know that working at being intuitive can get in the way.  Intuition is at its best when it comes naturally.  Probably the most natural, effortless, flowing thing going on within each of us is our breathing.  By moving your awareness to your breath, you can shift that awareness into a more natural, receptive, effortless state.

  Try it for a moment.  Focus on your breathing.  Gently pay attention to it.  Be mindful of it.  If it helps to close your eyes, do so. 

  On the exhalations, allow yourself to relax.  On the inhalations, accept the breath coming to you naturally, without your making any effort yourself.

  Think to yourself, “I can trust the inspiration.”  Remember that inspiration means both the natural entering of the breath and the new, creative idea.  As you relax into your breath, be aware that you are relaxing into some higher process.  Be thankful for this wonderful gift, the gift of breath and life.

  Enjoy this state of “flow” for as long as you like.

Step 2: With Gratitude, Love Blossoms in the Heart

“The heart has such an influence over the understanding that it is worthwhile to engage it in our interest." Lord Chesterfield, Letters

As you begin to enjoy the feeling of being grateful for the gift of your breath, you will notice that a mood shift has been taking place.  The more you enjoy this experience, the more your mood becomes positive, mellow, serene, easy-going, and receptive.

  As feelings of gratitude become more perceptible and your mood shift becomes more evident, move your awareness to the area of your heart.  In a few moments, you may feel as if your heart is softening, becoming warm, or expanding.  Imagine that what you are feeling is love blossoming in your heart.  This love may feel very real. 

  As the feeling of love grows within your awareness, imagine that this feeling reaches out very naturally to include the presence of the person or concern about whom or which you wish to be intuitive.   Imagine that your feeling of love has surrounded the other person, or that you can feel or hear or see your question being surrounded by the love in your heart.  (For much of the training, this other presence will be the person whose concern you wish to address, to whom you wish to tell a helpful story.  Later it will be yourself, your own concerns or interests, that will be the focus of your Intuitive Heart.)  Allow yourself to experience a heart connection between the two of you. 

  The experience of the flowering or radiating heart, as well as the experience of a heart connection with another person, arise much more naturally than it might seem simply from reading the words on the page without doing the actual practice.  As you actually do the practice, I assure you that the written guidance I will provide will combine with your own experience to introduce you to a reality that is quite vivid and reliable.  Keep my promise in mind as I continue outlining the steps of the process. 

  For a moment, simply enjoy the heart connection with the other person.  Love flows through you, and you share that love with the other person.  Let this love push aside all concerns, making worry seem pointless.  Simply experience the feeling of love.  Trust in inspiration.  Realize that while you have a purpose to fulfill, a mission to accomplish on behalf of the other person, that you can, nevertheless, relax.  You can trust that the same inspiration you are enjoying in your breath will naturally bring to you everything you need.  Discover what a good feeling it is to accept such confidence.  You’ll soon find out that you are not simply making flowery affirmations, but are being guided onto a path of profound discovery.

Step 3: Inviting The Memory

“Great thoughts always come from the heart.” Marquis de Vauvenargues, Reflexions et maximes

You will discover you can trust that, without any effort on your part, just the right memory from among your many life experiences will come to you.  Intuitively, the most helpful of your experiences will be drawn into the heart connection between you and your partner.  In your state of gratitude and trust, no effort is necessary.  You don’t need to try to anticipate what memory will come or should come.  You can be indifferent to what the memory might be like, whether it is seemingly important or apparently trivial, depressing or happy.  It doesn’t matter.  You don’t need to evaluate the memory that does come.

  Each of your breaths is different, yet perfect for the moment.  It feels good to accept each one as it comes.  You can do the same with the flow of your mind, trusting and accepting the memory that comes.

  If you like, you can think along the lines of this affirmation to focus the quality of your awareness at this moment:

  I trust in inspiration.  Guided by love and trusting inspiration, I now allow a memory to come to me, a recollection of a specific experience from my past.  When I tell this memory aloud as a story and reflect upon the meaning it has for me today, my sharing will inspire in my partner exactly the necessary wisdom required for whatever concern my partner’s heart is holding.

  How can you go wrong with an attitude like that? In this attitude of naturalness and loving helpfulness, just allow a memory to come.  Don’t search or struggle for one.  Don’t push away whatever comes to you.  Don’t pass judgment on its quality.  Just accept whatever memory appears to you.

Step 4: Telling The Story

“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Matthew 12:34

Having accepted the first memory that popped into your mind, open your eyes if you have had them closed, and begin to speak to your partner.  Using this memory as your starting point, tell your partner the story of what happened.  Describe the scene, and as you describe it, talk about what was going on for you at the time of that memory.  Just enjoy your telling of this story:  There’s the setting, there’s some tension, here’s what happened, and then here’s how things worked out in a particular way.

  What could be easier than telling the story of what happened to you?  Everyone loves to tell stories.  It’s very easy and natural.  We all do it all the time.

  Telling and listening to stories is not only easy and natural, but as we’ll see, intuition also is very much alive when we do so.  Telling a story is good fun.  Enjoy it.  The more you enjoy it, the more intuition will be present.

Step 5: Gaining Wisdom from Experience

“I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all [they] that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” Ecclesiastes 1:16

When you’ve told the story, ask yourself aloud so your partner can hear, “What can I learn from this story for myself?  What does it have to teach me at this moment?”

  Do your thinking aloud so your partner can listen.  Explore the meaning the story has for you by talking it out.

  In a caring way, search your heart for wisdom about this memory.  Look back on your past and how you’ve grown since then.  As you share your thoughts, it’s very natural and very much okay not to know where you’re headed with the whole thing.  It’s okay and very intuitive to be talking and yet not to know what the particular point of it all might be.  Just say what is in your heart and mind in an extemporaneous way, sincerely, spontaneously, keeping your awareness in the flow state and with the attitude of, “I am searching my heart for wisdom to understand what I can learn from this, listening to what me heart tells me in hopes that my sincere offering will be useful to my partner.”

  Because you care, you are willing to share the wisdom that you discover from your story.  And even you may be surprised at some of the things you find in the story that you did not suspect were there when you started.

Step 6:  The Sharing of Feedback and Insights

“Heart speaks to heart.” Cardinal Newman

When you have finished with your story and the lessons it held for you, ask your partner for some feedback.  You may ask whether your partner was touched by any part of your story and whether your partner would be willing to tell you about that.  Usually, that’s all you need to say, and most people will really open up at this point.  Most will tell you what their question or concern was.  If they don’t (sometimes they are so excited by your story that they forget), you may ask if they would mind sharing the question with you.

  My experience is that usually people will share both their question and the impact of your story because you have been so open and willing to share so much of yourself.  And what I fully expect you will hear is how pertinent your memory and the story you told about it are to the question or concern your partner had.

  You probably will find yourself in an intimate conversation with your partner.  You’ll both be as surprised as Pepe and Dimitri to discover how important your simple story really is.  You’ll find you have some interesting things in common with each other, things you might not have suspected but which intuition brought to the surface.  You’ll find out just how much you have to learn from each other.  And you’ll discover that you can trust your intuition.  That’s the discovery we want you to remember and to repeat as often as necessary until you can really accept it.  Your partners are going to be very helpful in that discovery process.

A Simple Method Has Profound Results

“If you want to know yourself, Just look how others do it; If you want to understand others, Look into your own heart." Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, Tabulae Votivae

Well, that’s it.  That’s the Intuitive Heart Discovery Process.  There is nothing complicated, difficult or mysterious about it.  In fact, the only problem you may have is some initial awkwardness about learning to relax into your breathing, about feeling so good in your heart, or about involving a partner to practice your intuitive story telling technique.  But the more times you go through the Intuitive Heart Discovery Process, the more natural it will become for you, and you will begin to make several discoveries.

  You will discover that the breath can introduce you to more than simply the flow state.  You’ll discover that experiencing a heart connection with other people has some secrets to reveal.  You’ll discover that your memories are richer than you would believe and seem to have an intelligence of their own and wonder how they know which one should come to you.

  All these discoveries will form a body of personalized information that will be a teacher for you.  They will guide you in developing your Intuitive Heart skills.  There is so much to learn from each of these steps, besides the intuitive skill you will be developing, that we will talk in detail about all these things in the following chapters.

  Before going on to those chapters, however, I have one last word about inviting partners to help you practice.  You may discover that you have a certain amount of shyness in approaching even close friends or family to do this work.  And that’s perfectly okay.  Let the shyness be there, if it is, because inside each of us is a part that is reluctant about, that has fears about exposure, about being wrong, about looking foolish.  In fact, they are all those same fears that people mention when they talk about regretting not following a hunch.  So bring your doubts with you to this process, because they need to be touched by the enthusiasm, the joy, the pleasure, and the insights that can come from the process. 

  This is something that you will need to see for yourself, experience in your own heart and physical body, and in your connections with others, in order for it to come alive and be real for you.  As we go, I will tell you about my own experiences as well as those of others, but again, you will need to experience it for yourself.

*This material is adapted from the book by Henry Reed, The Intuitive Heart, available from Amazon.com