Why we should listen to our hearts...

"...the only way to know yourself, is to be yourself. And the only way to be yourself is to listen to your heart."

Mike Dooley

Entrer Dans Mon Coeur

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/entrer-dans-mon-coeur-lianne-schneider.html

One of the most important aspects of wholehearted living...living from the heart...is learning to listen to what your heart is actually telling you. Certainly, we've all heard that advice before - follow your heart, your heart always tells you the truth. But how does one actually do that? And is there any reason to believe that the heart really can communicate something different than what we "think" in our heads? Yes, actually there are a number of scientific reasons to believe that "listening" to the heart is important and how to begin to do that. 

Believe it or not, there is a significant amount of research that suggests that the heart controls the mind rather than the other way around. This is tremendously difficult for many of us to accept, living as we do in a mind-dominated society where logic and analytical thinking seem to be the driving force behind our decision-making. But according to Dr. Joel Kahn, in an article entitled, "7 Scientific Reasons to Listen to Your Heart (Not Your Brain), the heart is actually the "little brain" with 40,000 neurons communicating with the brain and the whole field of research into this communication is called neurocardiology. So the heart speaks to the brain and the body in four particular ways - through the nervous system, by hormones produced in the heart itself, biomechanically through blood pressure waves and with "energy" information from the electrical and electromagnetic fields of the body. 

The findings are rather surprising - the heart communicates with the brain far more often than the other way around and the heart emits far more electrical energy than the brain as well. Probably one of the most startling facts to come out of the research is the fact that the electromagnetic field of the heart can be measured by EKG anywhere on the body but also from several feet away! 

Here's the kicker though -  "Activity in one person's heart can be measured in the brain waves of another person." The electromagnetic field of two individuals (human or pet and human), touching or within a few feet of each other, can interact so that energy activity in the heart of one individual is measured in the brain waves of the other. The act of touch for healing therapies can be postulated to be due to this method of communication." The electrical activity of the heart and the brain can be guided into a synchronous electrical rhythm easily measured and displayed by simply focusing on positive and loving emotions emanating from the heart. This state of organ “coherence” is associated with improved higher level functioning, lower blood pressure and cortisol levels, and improved immune system function." (Dr. Joel Kahn). There is apparently a lot to be said for the "laying on of hands" for healing another person and there have been some incredible proofs offered in the past few years including one shared by Dr. Gregg Braden where the healers didn't even touch the sick person - they just "sent" healing energy to the sick person and in that way completely shrunk a malignant tumor. The entire process was captured on time lapse sonograms. 

All well and good but that still sounds as if it's all about science and the mind - there must be an emotional component to the idea of listening to the heart and it's that component that is the foundation for learning to be aware of what the heart is trying to tell us. Clearly, one of the first steps in this wholehearted living process is learning to respect but at the same time quiet the mind.

More on that on Friday - and some of the rest of the steps to following your heart...

An Apple a Day....

"Eat an apple on going to bed, you'll keep the doctor from his bread."

Pembrokeshire Proverb 1886

Still Life with Apples

http://lianne-schneider.artistwebsites.com/featured/still-life-with-apples-lianne-schneider.html

We've all heard the old saying, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," but where did it come from and is there any truth in it? You'd think the answer to both questions would be relatively simple but tracking the origins of a "proverb" isn't as easy as it seems. Some assume this to have originated as one of the proverbs in "Poor Richard's Almanac" by Benjamin Franklin but existing copies don't validate that claim. Others have suggested it came from a horror story of sorts in the American West in the early 1800s, or from an old wives' tale in Great Britain as far back as 1670. However, the general consensus from the most reputable sources I could find trace the origin to a Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK proverb. 

The February 1866 edition of Notes and Queries magazine includes this:

"A Pembrokeshire proverb. Eat an apple on going to bed, And you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread." A number of variants of the rhyme were in circulation around the turn of the 20th century. In 1913, Elizabeth Wright recorded a Devonian dialect version and also the first known mention of the version we use now, in Rustic Speech and Folk-lore: "Ait a happle avore gwain to bed, An' you'll make the doctor beg his bread; or as the more popular version runs: An apple a day Keeps the doctor away."

[from http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/an-apple-a-day.html ]  

There's also a poem - or rather a nursery rhyme - that was popular in the UK years ago that includes this proverb:           

    Apple a day keeps the doctor away,

    Apple in the morning, doctor’s warning.

    Roast apple at night, starves the doctor outright.

    Eat an apple going to bed – knock the doctor on the head.

    Three each day, 7 a week – ruddy apple, ruddy cheek.

[from https://laboratorynews.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/an-apple-a-day/ ]

Origins aside, is there any truth to the saying? Apparently there is. According to the blog at www.fitday.com apples have lots of health benefits beginning with the fact that they have no cholesterol, are low in fat and sodium, low in calories (80 for a medium size apple), have 22 grams of carbs but most of those are complex carbs for sustained energy and a positive impact on balancing sugar/insulin levels. They are also very high in vitamins A, E and betacarotene which aid in suppressing free radicals and which have also been proven to help prevent serious conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and asthma. Throw in the immune system boosting benefits of the vitamin C in apples, the pectin that adds fiber and aids in digestive health and boron - a nutrient that promotes both brain and bone health - and you have a nearly perfect food. Finally, apples contain another nutrient called Quercetin, a flavonoid which "has the potential to prevent many different types of cancer, ranging from breast cancer to lung cancer. It may also be effective in combating free radicals that can cause age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease."

[from http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/fact-or-fiction-an-apple-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away.html ]

 There's even a bit more good news for the health conscious - especially women. A study of post-menopausal women between the ages of 45 and 65 showed that those who ate an apple a day versus eating dried prunes, lowered bad cholesterol (LDL) by 23% more AND lost an average of 3.3 pounds. And for the arthritis sufferers out there - apples also lower the production of pro-inflammatory molecules in the body. I actually didn't put this all together until recently but I was stricken with an inflammatory arthritis - without the presence of the rheumatoid factor but equally painful - when I was very young and was taking cortisone injections before I was 30 in my knees. Then I heard an old wives' tale about taking a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of cool water each morning and after two weeks, I was pain free for the first time in years without aspirin or other anti-inflammatories. I wish I could still take it but the acid aggravates an ulcer just as aspirin does. But I understand now why it worked so well back then. Fortunately, I can still eat apples - and I try to eat one a day even though to be honest, the good ones have become terribly expensive!! Still, I have to endorse this old saying - "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." It certainly can help.