Heart

HEART = the central core; essence; soul, spirit, courage; a hollow muscular organ that circulates blood in the body. Heart - as a verb - means to love.

QUESTION: Are you listening to your heart?

STORY: I remember sitting next to my mother when she was laying on a bed in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital after a very severe heart attack. She was hooked up to machines and was unable to speak. Instead of me talking to her - I simply held her left hand with my right hand. And then, slowly as I held my pen with my left hand, I began to draw lines on paper and I was amazed at how a tiny squiggle or a gentle curve or a shape suddenly appeared to be a neck or a thumb or a shoulder. I sat with my mother for many hours every day for ten days. I made many drawings. They flowed from my heart’s desire for my mother to heal. And yes my mother did heal. After a year or two, I brought her to California and she lived with us for about 7 months and then she decided to go back to Wisconsin and live in an elder care facility near her other daughter and relatives. Mom lived for another 7 years.

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QUOTES

“The heart of man is very much like the sea. It has storms. It has tides. And in its depths are pearls, too.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh

“You don’t love someone because of their looks, or their clothes or their car. You love them because they sing a song only your Heart can understand.” ~ Oscar Wilde

“To be brave is to love someone unconditionally - without expecting anything in return.” ~ Margaret Mitchell

“It is the heart which opens or closes our eyes. To know someone we must love him.” ~ Kathleen Speeth

EXERCISE

STOP.

Sit quietly. Assume an erect posture.

Sense the breath.

Sit calmly and FEEL the presence of LIFE flowing through your arms, legs, tummy, neck, shoulders.

Get your pen and paper and write words or draw lines expressing what your HEART is telling you.

Move forward into your day listening to your heart.