We are six weeks into a new year, the Mayan calendar has ended, and our Fifth Age of Flowering Human Consciousness has begun. So, instead of writing down our “goals,” let’s begin again, and this time making good use of our “New Age” with a new paradigm in which to view our lives.

Over the past two years, I have been trying something new. Instead of placing my focus on what I want to accomplish, I have been asking my heart what ITS intentions are. What I have found is that the heart does not want to accomplish anything, the ego does.

I have observed in setting the ego’s intentions at the beginning of each year that my heart was simply left to wait, being put on hold for another year for me to pursue winning and competition.

Dreams the material world esteems valuable, as opposed to embarking on the dreams my heart’s pursuing, its sacred purpose from within.

Through listening and walking my heart’s path, I have observed why disconnection from our heart occurs. As humans, we have the innate ability to deviate from our natural programming, whereas an acorn of an oak tree does not. We, like the acorn, already contain the entire blueprint within us for our wholeness and happiness. The difference is the acorn cannot override its programming to become an oak tree, but, unfortunately, we can.

I’ve been asking my heart specifically what it wants, listening hard, and it’s been answering. I have been scribing down its wisdom wherever I am and taking small proactive steps each day to honor its answers. This process has led to a career change and relationship shifts—significantly changing my life as I knew it into a feeling of sustainability born of contentment, a happiness made up of ingredients from within, that now, over time, have proven to be all I need and the contents of Divine Love.

By asking our heart what its intentions are, we are unveiling our most sacred truths and ecstatic qualities of our soul.

What I have learned is that my heart’s intentions are substance for my soul, and that in accomplishing what I had before, while in the world’s eye substantial, were lacking substance of my deeper purpose that is now nourishing my soul.

This process has been a transformative and challenging one for me and has provided me a clear understanding and feeling of what it means to live in Divine Love sourced directly form my Sacred Heart. I will not go on to tell you that this has been an easy process for me, but what I will say with 100% certainty is that I have never felt more secure, content, or purpose-filled in my life.

What I have discovered in asking my heart what it wants is the emergence of a new set of whole and holy principles guiding my life beyond what my mind and ego had known. The principles that have emerged have nothing external at their root, because they are all rooted internally and within the genetic code of all of life.

Through the process of Recycling Happiness—gladdening the hearts of sentient beings, keeping clear what clouds my pure light, and embracing the sacred principles of my heart in service to others—I have found my most sustainable and trustworthy guide: a purpose-filled way to live my life.

Amy Alcini is the Founder and CEO of Recycling Happiness™. She is an Inspirational Speaker, Author, and Poet. Her debut collection of poems entitled Symphony Upon My Soul is available on Amazon. Within two weeks of its release, it made its way to #2 on The Amazon Best Seller List (in love poem books) and ranked #1 in Hot New Releases.

Her new book Recycling Happiness: A Return to Heart, is set to be released Feb 2014.