This morning, the Telegraph website published a lovely gallery of photos of naturally occurring heart shapes (link below), which demonstrates that there really are hearts everywhere if you look for them. It got me thinking about the heart icon, how our brains scan for it and pattern-match it all the time, and what were the origins of a symbol that has come to mean everything from eternal love to Valentine’s Day.

According to the website heartsymbol.com, in prehistoric times the icon was not even a heart - it was an ivy leaf, which represented eternal love, withstanding death. This makes perfect sense, as the ivy is an evergreen - and also the heart chakra is associated with the colour green rather than red.

We have the medieval tradition of courtly love to thank for the replacement of heart-shaped ivy with the red heart. After that, the circulation of the heart symbol through art, playing cards and above all, through religious worship, has made the heart probably the most popular non-geometric symbol in the world.

Now it means everything from “I like you very much” to “I love you deeply and passionately” and everything in between. It has been commercialised, monetised and animated but still it remains a universal icon of love, passion, compassion, devotion and much more.

To me, the heart symbolises presence. Much of the work I do as a human potential coach is about encouraging people to live from the heart, not the head. Most people can do it immediately with a little guidance, but the real test is being able to stay focused on your heart in the wider world, when you’re surrounded by people who are in their heads all the time.

I need to be reminded to drop my awareness into my heart and be present, so I admit to using little heart stickers in key places as visual cues. There’s one on my laptop, one on my mobile phone, one on my bathroom mirror.

It’s a discreet, personal trigger for me to check whether or not I’m caught up in my thoughts.

It’s a shame, though that we have lost contact with the ivy leaf. I much prefer its connection to nature, to growth, to everlasting love.

I first heard the term SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely) goals about 10 years ago and I’ve remembered it ever since. I know the power of a good acronym or mnemonic, so I set myself the task of coming up with my own for The Pearl Within. Here goes:

P is for Presence

There are two strands to presence: one is always being in the present moment; the other is having a presence - which often comes as a result of staying present. The ability to focus only on what is arising right now rather than slipping into thoughts of the past or future is key to living from the heart.

E is for Emotional clarity

It’s important to get clear about your emotions - in terms of what they are, how they relate to your thoughts and behaviour, how to deal with them as they arise, and also to clear out the emotional baggage you’ve been dragging around with you for years.

A is for Authenticity

What does authenticity mean to you? The dictionary defines it as the quality or condition of being authentic, trustworthy, or genuine. To me it means a way of being in the world that is totally congruent with your true self, communicating with respectful honesty and clarity, and living in accordance with your highest purpose.

R is for Responsibility

The bottom line is, the buck stops with you. You are responsible for your health, your emotions, your spirituality, your mind, your relationships, the way you impact on the environment. No one else is to blame. This is what true maturity looks like.

L is for Loving kindness

Taking responsibility for your own life doesn’t have to be tough. Show loving kindness and compassion to yourself as well as others. Grow up and wake up but stop beating yourself up.

W is for Wisdom

Wisdom might seem like the Holy Grail at times but it’s easier to access than you think. Wisdom is in that still, small voice within. Wisdom whispers, and to hear its voice you must turn down the deafening volume generated by the thoughts in your head.

I is for Intelligence

The traditional definition of intelligence - as in IQ - is far too narrow. According to developmental psychologist Howard Gardner, there are at least eight types of intelligence - linguistic, logic-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily/kinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic. Finding out in which types of intelligence you excel could change your life. You don’t have to be good at passing exams to be clever.

T is for Trust

If we could only trust ourselves, trust others, trust in life, trust in a higher power, trust the process, trust the universe, trust in the bigger picture, trust that wherever we are right now is where we are meant to be.

H is for Honesty

As Thomas Jefferson said, honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom. Rigorous honesty goes hand in hand with responsibility. Be honest about yourself - your strengths and shortcomings, your gifts and talents, your communication, your emotions, your thoughts, your behaviour, your health, your wealth - and enjoy an authentic life.

I is for Inspiration

Take a deep breath - that is inspiration, pure and simple. And inhaling gulps of air may well fuel the other type of inspiration - that spark of creativity, that brilliant idea, that flash of insight, which arrives without fanfare, sometimes at such speed that we almost miss it. Inspiration is a life-enhancing energy boost.

N is for Now

I read Eckhart Tolle’s classic The Power of Now when it first came out but it took me a few years to truly understand the power of being present. Now is all there is, so be here or be trapped in a prison of the past. Now is where it’s at! As Tolle says, “Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be.”

In my other life as a journalist, I spend a lot of time writing about white-sand beaches. And I’ve been lucky enough to walk along such beaches in exotic locations, as well as experience the silky softness of dune sand in the desert. But I’ve rarely stopped to think about individual grains of sand. Thank goodness, then, for Dr Gary Greenberg, who has put them under a microscope and taken photographs of them magnified hundreds of times.

He says: “When we walk along a beach we are strolling on millions of years of geological and biological history. Each grain of sand is unique, and each has a story to tell. It is a journey into the wondrous landscape of things we do not see with our naked eye. It inspires the human spirit to know that the beauty and the mysteries of our universe are tangible and real, and that our lives are enriched by their presence.”

As you can see in this picture (and see more on Dr Greenberg’s website, sandgrains.com), each grain of sand is like a universe in miniature - little jewels that we tramp underfoot without realising how beautiful they are.

I think that’s a pretty good metaphor for how many of us go about our lives - trudging around, blissfully unaware of the true nature of reality - with (wait for it) our heads in the sand.

We may not be able to see the perfection of a grain of sand with the naked eye, but we have the knowledge that it exists - as so many other things exist beyond our senses.

Each of us is unique, and each of us has a story to tell. We have unseen beauty within us too - that’s why I call this page The Pearl Within. And we might get to see it more often if we dropped our awareness out of our heads and into our hearts.

Try it next time you’re walking in nature. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and imagine you are breathing in and out of your heart. Say quietly to yourself, “I am heart.”

Open your eyes, and see if your perception has changed. Are the colours brighter? The birdsong louder? The smell of grass more aromatic? Fill your senses with this vivid reality called life.

I’ll sign off by quoting from William Blake’s poem Auguries of Innocence, which everyone thinks says the universe is in a grain of sand but in fact,.it goes like this:

To see a world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.