Editor's Note - Below is a recap of week 2 of the Hay House World Summit, by Lauren Stahl. Click here to read her recap of week 1. 

The Hay House World Summit continues to amaze me. I am excited to share my recap of Series 2 with you. The amount of knowledge, insight, awareness, clarity, and vision that each of the speakers have is truly inspiring.

The theme that I want to speak about is leading with love. By this, I mean unclogging the disconnect between the head and the heart and allowing for love to be your true essence. This essence means making your decisions from a place of joy and putting your needs first and foremost. This is an intention worth bringing into your life. Many of the speakers touched on this.

Leading with love was not part of my reality for a number of years. Instead, it was one of fear, anger, and frustration that stole the show. This manifested in addictive behaviors and dependence on drugs, alcohol, and other ways of escaping. I see this desire to escape with the clients I work with and also in society as a whole.

It was so refreshing to hear these speakers sharing their stories and also shedding light on the ability to internalize this concept of love.

In Michael J. Chase’s lesson, “The Power of Understanding: Winning the Battle Between Your Head and Your Heart” he speaks about opening up. By opening up, it means the “emotional constipation” that many of us have is released. And with this release, there are possibilities and a newfound sense of freedom.

The reality is we live a world where many people are closed down. It is easy for our energies to feed off of this. I see it happen in my life. What we each have is the ability to embrace awareness and the power of choice. Michael stresses really looking at the things in our lives and seeing if it opens or closes us. This could be looked at in relationships, the social media we choose to view, and many other aspects.

We each have the ability to win the battle between the head and the heart. It can be easy to forget this as we get caught up in the day to day of our lives. The beauty is we don’t have to anymore and as Michael says, “It all starts from within.” Let’s focus on the innate beauty within that harnesses the kindness, compassion, and ability to lead with love.

The leading with love concept is true for business as well. In Marie Forleo’s lesson, “Creative and Successful Business Practices for the Modern Entrepreneur,” Marie, a successful entrepreneur and creator of B-School, an online business school and program for modern entrepreneurs, speaks about what it means to be successful and happy in business.

Success and happiness in business, most often means leading with love and the heart. Marie saw this in her life as she began on Wall Street and publishing and then founded her business that followed her deepest desires.

This was the case in my life as well and I think it’s important to ask yourself what truly makes you happy? Are you leading from a place of authenticity and love or are you allowing your head to run the show? The head is tied to the ego and often times this means we get involved in things that don’t truly allow us to grow and live with fulfillment.

Action was an important theme throughout Marie’s talk as well. She believes every person is born with a unique set of gifts and when our business is embedded with these gifts and the desire to serve, that sense of love and generosity will shine through. Others will respond extremely well to this. It is always so wonderful to hear Marie!

I remember when I first read Eckhart Tolle’s book, The Power of Now I was at the beginning of my spiritual path and blown away. To hear someone else talk about such presence, consciousness, and thoughts in such an eloquent and succinct way was beautiful.

In Eckhart Tolle’s lesson, "The Power of Presence," he talks about this theme of presence and the difficulty of embracing it because of the dysfunctional thinking we have inherited. Eckhart says that eighty to ninety percent of our thinking is dysfunctional, meaning it is tied to the past or future and does not serve us.

He speaks about this aliveness in the inner body. This aliveness comes alive when we give ourselves the space to step out of our habitual stream of thinking that occupies the mind. This moment of presence into life is where that aliveness in the inner body lives and we embrace courage and love.

Lastly, I will touch on a Teal Swan’s lesson, “I Want to Love Myself but I Don't Know How.” Teal survived a childhood of horrendous abuse at the hands of a cult member. After escaping at age 19, she began her journey to loving herself.

Teal went from a place of panic when she was with herself, as though she were living with an enemy, to opening up to feelings of oneness and realizing that in fact, she was never disconnected.

Maybe this idea of constantly wanting to escape and disconnect from yourself rings true for you. There are many ways to escape, from work, to relationships, to addictive behaviors, to moving from one place to another. As Teal explains, self-love begins with a decision to make happiness the most important part of your life. This means making how you feel the central focal point.

It can be difficult to do this as many of us suppress and disown aspects of ourselves that do not get positive appreciation and love. This begins as early as childhood and when socialization comes into play. The beauty is that this doesn’t have to be your reality anymore. I know I will make a conscious effort to not make it be mine.

You are the most important person in your life. Don’t forget that!

If you didn’t get a chance to check out Series 2 of the World Summit, make sure to. There is so much to learn and take away from this series and I will be listening over and over! I pick up on something new each time I listen.

 Lauren Stahl is the founder of SPARKITE, an online interface that empowers and inspires users to work towards their goals with added support and accountability. She coaches people around the world, is a professional speaker, and believes that you can live the life you desire. You can learn more about Lauren and SPARKITE here.