Being authentic or “real” is crucial to really connecting with people. So I love teaching people how to come from their heart instead of their head. I think it’s especially fun in a business setting because people are used to being in their head when they’re seeking to conduct business. But people don’t need to connect with your brain as much as they need to connect with your heart. This is true in business in particular and in life in general.
What people genuinely want is to connect with you, the real you. A sense of connection to the heart is much more powerfully felt than a head connection. When we connect with someone’s heart, we get a deeper feel for who they are.
We do some good exercises on getting out of the head and into the hart at our seminar, Life Impact Academy: Connection and Purpose. We have some fun “learn by experiences” that we do there. For now, here are a few suggestions to help you be more real with people so you can experience a better connection with them:
- use three deep breaths through the nose and out the mouth to relax your emotional state.
- Focus on the sensations around your chest (heart) instead of on what’s going on in your head.
- Be genuinely curious about what’s going on with the other person.
- Don’t try to present yourself as something you’re not.
- Trust that people will like you as you are.
- Know that you have something valuable to offer just by being you.
However we are showing up will influence the connection we make with other people. People yearn to really connect with people. It’s a basic human need. But so many of our interactions with other people are superficial or shallow. They don’t really satisfy.
But if you can come from a heart space and be real and share yourself genuinely with people, people will respond well. You will stand out in a good way. In fact, if your not getting the results you want in relationships or in business, you may want to work more on coming from your heart and sharing the real you.
In my (Rena’s) own experience, I find that people respond to me way better when I’m showing up as the real me. No one can relate to a facade or a mask. Who can connect when there’s a barrier there? I’ve found it doesn’t matter if I’m talking to an individual or a group or to an audience from a stage. People want the real me. And I believe they want the real you, too.
