The Heart of the Matter
Heart Disease is the #1 Killer in this Country. But, it really doesn’t have to be. There are so many things that you have the power over that can reduce your risk and reverse the symptoms/complications.......if you make the right choices.
Today……I’m talking about something else. And, believe it or not, it’s at the heart of the matter.
Have you ever paid attention to the following statements? I’m sure you’ve heard some of them before. You may have even said them yourself.
“Stop Breaking My Heart”
“My Heart Dropped”
“He Stole My Heart”
“That was a Heartfelt Message”
“My Heart is in a Million Pieces”
“I am so Heartbroken”
“She Has a Good Heart”
“You’re gonna give me Heart Attack”
At the “heart” of these statements is a clear communication of some type of feelings/emotions that you experience.......not in your mind, but in your heart. Literally, you feel something in your chest and sometimes as you are feeling it, you place your hand on your chest.
More and more science is confirming that there is an intimate relationship between how we feel and our state of health. That’s right, there is a whole lot more attention being paid to the relationship between the brain and the heart. “Research in the past two decades has shown that the heart is an information processing center that can learn, remember, and act independently of the cranial brain and actually connect and send signals to key brain areas such as the amygdala, thalamus, and hypothalamus, which regulate our perceptions and emotions. It seems we have a second “brain” in our chest.”
http://www.mindfulmuscle.com/heart-has-consciousness-knows-before-brain/#tcoHVeeeSKjFgkFY.99
I had NEVER heard that there are actually “neuro/brain” cells in our heart.
“When a person expresses frustration or anger, the body makes a hormone that constricts blood vessels, fatigues the immune system and causes the body’s blood pressure to escalate. If a person does this enough times, the heart will weaken under the strain and this can lead to organ damage.” (Institute of HeartMath)
So, while generally when we think of addressing heart disease we think of modifiable behaviors, i.e., smoking, weight loss, diet, etc., we may need to really start looking into our hearts at the things that we experience and how they make us feel. You know, when someone cuts you off in traffic, when your spouse is acting up, when you remember the details of the molestation, when you hear the emotional/verbal abuse again, when the next video of police brutality starts circulating, when you get the news of the pay increase, when you find the job you were looking for, when THAT dude walks in the room……….
I spent an hour this week watching the panel discussion Excruciating Cries From Memphis about the brutal beating and death of Tyre Nichols. My nephew, Nathaniel Drew is a pastor there and was also a pastor in the Charlottesville area during the tragedy there. It was a safe place to discuss how the Memphis tragedy hit our hearts. Tyre’s brutal murder at the hands of police officers/EMT’s is another incident in a history of mistreatment of Black and Brown people. We as a people carry in our hearts a burden of “heart pain” resultant from the legacy of American enslavement, racism, Jim Crow, lynching, inequity and systems designed to support the privilege of one population at the expense of “others”.
Excruciating Cries From Memphis - Conscience and Justice Council
Even now, as I write this blog, I am listening to Tyre’s services. Here we are again, forced to grieve with grace as we move through this tragedy. Thankful that the space we call “church” is a safe space for us. Where we can freely worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The one who in the brown dust on that continent of Africa, formed us with the fingers of His own hand and made us in His own image. The one place where we have discovered there is hope for our weary, broken hearts. The one place where we find God’s greatest wish for us is that we prosper and be in good health. Free from what we disproportionately experience in America and free from the diseases that ravage our communities. And, yet, when we leave that sacred space and walk back out into our lives, we continue to experience the hits on our hearts. But, know that this war is spiritual and without power from above, victory cannot be.
As we face the feelings that accompany those experiences, we can decide to choose more positive ones that impact us positively. We can decide to engage in the work of Jesus……which is that of social justice. We can also choose to remove ourselves from those experiences that affect us negatively. And, if we are still carrying the “feelings” of something that happened long ago, we can work through them (get professional help if necessary) and restore our “broken hearts”. It’s not always an easy thing to do.....we are worn out. And, if we are truthful, sometimes, holding on to anger associated with bad experiences gives us a sense of power. But, your heart and its muscles are still feeling the strain that can lead to damage. We don’t need anymore of you becoming another statistic. We need you WELL!!!!
Soooo, the first thing you can do in changing this heart disease situation is to REALLY look at your heart.....your emotional heart.....and start THAT process. Get that done first. I think you will be amazed how much that changes things for you and relieves your need to self-medicate with substances and food and sex and shopping and all of that other stuff that is taking us out. Commit to do that this Black History Month. It will change you and the folk around you.
Get to the Heart of the Matter!! Heal Your Heart!! Be Well!!! We Need You!!
I’m Still Shoutin’ Ova Here!!
Donna
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