Lub-dub…Lub-dub… Lub-dub...

The vitality-filled sounds of an ever-beating heart….

We’ve all probably studied in one biology class or the other that the heart is the strong muscled organ that pumps oxygen-rich blood throughout the body. Four chambers, veins and arteries. Peacemaker. Oh yes, valves, essentially providing sustenance and fights even to our last breath.

Now, quick question: Why is love associated with the heart? So apparently, history has it that the heart was thought to be the seat of all thinking. The Egyptians, and later Aristotle, proudly put up the heart on a pedestal- the source of all emotion, memory and personality… and whoa - the home of our very souls. Then Jesus Christ with a heart that symbolized the unconditional love He has for us, and of course, since the 17th century, the emblem of the Valentine’s Day celebrations.

My answer… WE NEED LOVE TO SURVIVE just as we need our hearts to survive.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) I cannot fathom any other definition that expresses love in its wholesomeness and unconditional nature. We do need these qualities to survive as a human race. A simple replacement of the word ‘love’ in these verses with your name, ‘Sarah is patient, Rahab is kind, Hassan does not envy … We’ll well be on our way to achieving global awareness and unity, like-mindedness in pursuit of a common goal.

Like our hearts, we’re all different slightly on an individual level but universally, we dance to the same beats and function by the same mechanisms from one day to the next, with life coursing through our vessels. Loving others gives them sustenance, helps them to grow, provides extreme comfort in the fact that there is someone to lean unto and to know that someone is willing to sacrifice some aspects of themselves for our betterment. And guess what? Like our coronary vessels which serve to nourish the heart itself, loving others nourishes us too, makes us happy and satisfied with ourselves in what we have to give.

It’s like this- There are several diseases of the heart; some congenital and others brought on by our own lifestyle choices, bad dietary choices and poor exercise regimes. Coronary Heart Disease, atherosclerosis resulting in myocardiac infractions (heart attacks) and strokes, you name them. But at the same time there are millions of people walking the earth with severe heart/love problems- broken hearts filled with extreme distrust and hatred for everything around them and living through the motions each day unfeelingly.

Things like #wastehistime2016 and ‘side-baeships’ and ‘situationships’, sour relationships with family members- a dad who left and never looked back, the death of a loved one. People are living their lives grateful for their next breath, just as a person with a heart attack has severe shortness of breath and is gasping to reach his next breath.

But here’s the thing- A heart under duress increases pressure to continue supplying blood to the body (hypertension) even enlarging and gaining momentum at times (cardiomegaly) to support the body until there is nothing the heart itself can do without support. And then we seek medicine-beta blockers, warfarin to thin the blood, surgeries- angioplasties and bypasses in search of a means to add more years to our lives. So why can’t we, despite all the painful circumstances that have left us broken, used and torn, get a hang of ourselves and try to pull ourselves together by intensifying the way we show love and strengthening our relationships despite the hurt and anguish?- with common sense, of course.

It doesn’t help to get steeped into the exact same situation that damaged you spiritually.  Then if all else fails let’s try to get help from support groups and networks, family, therapy, but to name a few, instead of being dissuaded by the fact that there’s no going back. It’s difficult, of course, but it is totally worth it when you experience a self-renewal and an inner peace and love by being at peace with your situation and thriving on the experiences you’ve learned.

So here’s what I’ll say: LEARN TO LIVE LIKE YOUR HEART.

Nourish others, nourish yourself. Be strong, muscled, alive, vibrant courageous. In times of sheer pressure, exert yourself to the utmost until you’ve given all you’ve got.

Find your pacemaker to help you discover and enjoy the rhythm of each beat and the purpose of each pump.

Install your valves to prevent the backflow of negative emotions and hate you’ve worked so hard to eradicate with loving others and being selfless.

Compartmentalize yourself, remembering to separate emotions and sentiments from your objective decision making.

FINALLY, quit your pity party! Allow yourself to feel the energy and synergy of your pulse. If an organ this small, the size of your fist, can sustain your entire being, then you should be in a position to do so much more. Get real. Stop making excuses.

 

 

The writer is student of Cornell University, majoring in Human Biology, Health and Society. She can be reached on nea39@cornell.edu