September 26, 2024
Oh, Nana
February is the month of LOVE! So while most of us are busy making plans on how we will celebrate the month with our special someone, we forget about this special muscle, just about the size of our fist, that beats every second, every minute, every hour of our lifetime!
The heart is one of the most unique and interesting organ of the body. It thinks, it feels, and it even drives human beings to accomplish seemingly impossible feats. It is a vital source of life and the center of all emotions. “One love, one heart, one destiny.” This quote by Bob Marley expresses its universal nature into 3 separate components: a feeling, a structure, and a divine decree.
Let’s dive deeper into this fascinating organ and get to know it better from a physiological, emotional and spiritual standpoint.
This life-sustaining organ located in the middle of the chest is 18 inches away from the head. The heart orchestrates the complex circulatory system to pump blood throughout the body via 60,000 miles of blood vessels. This is astronomical since it only takes 24,901 miles and about 40 hours to circumnavigate the Earth. In comparison, we can say that our blood travels two and a half times around the Earth in a 24 hour period. Our heart supplies every vessel in our body with oxygen-rich blood everyday so we can wake up each morning to experience a beautiful life on this planet.
That’s not all. It can also create enough energy to drive a truck for 20 miles and pumps about 1 Million barrels of blood during an average lifetime, enough to fill 3 super tankers. Unbelievable, ain’t it? This is a good reason why we should not take life for granted. Be grateful for your beating HEART because it is one of your biggest blessings.
The head, the heart and the gut are the three centers of intelligence. Each bears influence on us in different levels. However, a sound decision is one that is arrived after a process of investigating the facts, connecting with our feelings, and listening to our inner voice. Tony Robbins once said that “Emotion is energy in motion.” Just as our heartbeat changes to the music we are listening to, our emotional state can unconsciously influence how we think and process the events and circumstances that happen in our lives.
Studies have found that the human heart has an intrinsic nervous system of its own. It is like having a little brain in your heart. Known as sensory neurites, it forms a system of 40,000 neurons that are specifically found in the heart muscles. This helps explain why the heart can act independently of the brain as it sends and receives messages to our nervous system. Most of us discourage “thinking with our hearts”. Nevertheless, our emotions come into play and is a major influencer in our decision-making process.
Also known as the Anahata Mudra, the Heart is the 4th of the 7 Chakras in the Yodic/Buddhist tradition. Anahata literally means “unstruck sound” or the “sound that is made without any two things striking”. It is important to open up the heart center because it helps us discover self-love that allows us to experience unconditional love for others. Your heart is the seat of compassion, kindness, generosity and respect.
These are a few Chakra affirmations that lead us to the “path of the heart”:
The matters of the heart are simple and universal. We all hold special vessels within us but learning to love ourselves first is what will take us to its highest form. Knowing this will allow us to freely give and receive love to the world.
Sources:
https://www.chakra-anatomy.com/heart-chakra.html
https://www.unitypoint.org/livewell/article.aspx?id=20b07ab0-e855-49c6-9ee2-91247e52d5cc