We do not usually question the importance of our heart for the physical survival of our body. But when we talk about our emotional world, do we think about our brain or our heart?
In fact, we must take both into account, because the heart has such great emotional power that sometimes we can think that it is just permission from poets or writers, but it is a real power. Science is showing that taking care of our heart is not just about following a healthy diet and exercising; it also involves regulating our emotions and stress.
The HeartMath Institute has been studying the heart from its emotional perspective since the 1990s. They have especially studied heart rate variability because it is the sign that provides the most information about the functioning of the nervous system and influences the rest of health.
Heart rate variability
Heart rate variability is the amount of time that elapses between one heartbeat and the next. It influences your physical and emotional health in the following ways:
A short variability between beats- It is an indicator of stress and therefore health problems due to hyperactivation of the sympathetic nervous system.
A long variability between beats- It indicates homeostasis and balance, which is related to health, because it indicates a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
Without a doubt, the optimal functioning of the heart depends on leading a healthy lifestyle. But we must also include our emotional world in it, since stress can be regulated from within and because we are capable of creating sadness and anxiety, as well as creating love, gratitude, and hope.
Another clue that the heart gives us about its power and wisdom is that it is made up of neurons… And neurons are synonymous with intelligence and knowledge! In fact, the heart has 40,000 sensory neurites that communicate with large areas of the brain.
The neurons of the heart communicate with the amygdala, the great emotional center that we have in our brain. In fact, it is interesting to know that the amygdala neurons are synchronized with our heartbeat and when we experience anxiety, stress or sadness, the heart beats incoherently, so if we spend a lot of time anchored in those emotions (months- years), our amygdala interprets that the natural and healthy state of your heart is an incoherent beat instead of a coherent one. In this way, it identifies stress or anxiety as your baseline level of activation.
In addition to this, you should know that the heart sends more information to the brain than the other way around, which means that the information that the heart sends is very important for our mental and emotional health.
Intervenes in decision making
The heart influences not only our emotions, but also intervenes in decision making. Neurons in the heart have been found to send information to areas of the cerebral cortex that are responsible for decision-making, strategic thinking, and emotional self-regulation.
The true energy and power of the heart is in our emotions. And it is that we can create pleasant emotions that create a coherent heartbeat, creating health in our mind and body.
The emotions that are most effective in creating heart health and coherence are: love, gratitude, hope, empathy, and compassion. All these emotions are born from love, so do not be afraid of this emotion.
We have grown up thinking that love is just an emotion that we can feel for loved ones, couples or relatives. But there is a concept of love that transcends all this, that transcends our material world to integrate love into the fabric of life and the very universe in which we live.
The Greeks spoke of agape love to refer to unconditional love. In Plato’s time, this idea of love without barriers where even the happiness and well-being of the other comes first, became synonymous with universal love, love of truth, and humanity.
The deepest concept of agape love refers to the Buddhist idea of love and compassion, in which we can (and should) love any being that feels, even those who hurt us. I know that this concept is complex and sometimes we have to separate from someone so that he/she does not hurt us anymore, but perhaps thinking that each person is unique, making his/her own decisions, can help us introduce love into hate, or maybe into pain, mutating the negative into a positive.
You can feel this universal love; look for it within you, right in your heart. It helps me a lot to meditate. And although I still cannot unconditionally love someone who hurts me on purpose, I know I am learning and that fills me with serenity.
Please do not forget to take care of your heart, as well as do not forget to take care of your emotions by regulating them. So let yourself be guided by your heart because it is intelligent in itself…
