Have you ever felt drawn to an idea, a place or a possibility before you could explain why? For one person, it’s wide open flatlands. For another, towering skyscrapers. For you, maybe it's the high desert or sitting face to face with someone dear to you. What’s the signal you pick up that explains the draw? Can you identify it?
Katrine Formby shared her signal in the recent inaugural episode of the Voreen Podcast. She described that knowing feeling as her “heart clapping." For her, it's an inner signal that something is meaningful, beautiful or worth exploring. She felt it in the sunshine of southern California, near the lake in Austin, Texas, and when she and her husband, Bill, visited Telluride, Colorado. While visiting the mountain town, she noticed a sketch on the wall. She was drawn to it. The image depicted a historic building with elegant arched windows and a tower. “Where is that building?” she asked. The realtor they were meeting with replied, “You’re sitting in it—and it’s for sale.”
Katrine’s heart was clapping. Even though the existing building looked nothing like the one in the sketch, in Katrine’s mind’s eye, it could again. Her heart told her so through her honed signaling system, one she’s learned to feel, notice and trust.
That “heart clapping” signal inspired Katrine and her husband, Bill, to take on a renovation project that would span 20 years. There were delays, financial challenges and moments of fear in those two decades. But they kept going. And eventually, the tower returned to the Telluride skyline and its original beauty. The historic Nugget Building was later sold to the Telluride Film Festival, giving it a new future centered on creativity, community and storytelling.
Katrine’s story started with a moment of noticing — the “heart clapping” — followed by curiosity, inquiry and then action. For me, this story sparked a question: What gets my heart clapping? And what is my body’s equivalent signal? Do you know your personal “heart clapping” equivalent? Can you name it? If not, can you feel it? Do you recognize it when it shows up?
For decades now, I have called mine the “honeycomb crackling effect.” I know. The words make no sense. The best way I can describe it is when I feel something opening up or filling up, rearranging, aligning inside me. Sometimes I feel it in my head. Sometimes I feel it in my veins. Who knows what it is on a scientific level. But on a woo level, maybe it's molecules moving, synapses syncing or hormones harmonizing. It’s energy for sure. It’s an anatomical aha.
Like any signal, if the environment is too noisy — due to actual noise or stress or distraction or overwhelm — it can be hard to hear. I hear signals best when my mind and heart are open and my lips are closed. Like a flesh and bone and blood radar detection system. We’re sentient beings. We’re sensing, filtering, detecting, amplifying, classifying, deciding. The quiet moments can let me know what to give voice to — be it a song or a word or a simple newsletter message typed out on a keyboard.
What is your signal? In what circumstances do you notice it? What happens next?
As you roll into your weekend, notice what gives you energy. Notice what keeps returning. Notice what feels true to you. Your heart can walk you straight to where your new path begins.
If you haven’t listened to my interview with Katrine Formby, you can listen here or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Coming up next is my interview with Sophia Herzog-Gibb. I hope you’ll listen in to another conversation to connect.