What is the purpose of the HEART?
I want to share here what Anthony William, Medical MediumⓇ writes about the heart from his first book Medical Medium, Secrets Behind Chronic and Mystery Illness and How to Finally Heal. He says:
“The second component of one’s being is the physical heart. This is where your love, compassion, and joy reside. Having a healthy soul doesn’t necessarily make you a whole person. You can have an unblemished soul and a broken, injured heart. Your heart serves as the compass for your actions, guiding you to do the right thing when your soul becomes lost.”
Anthony says that the heart is the seat of our compassion and that it is the compass of our actions. Notice that the word compass is the first part of the word compassion. Our compassion for others and ourselves is what provides us a compass for our actions.
When I read this for the first time in 2015, I knew that what Anthony was describing here was something that I was aware of deeply already, but had never heard put in this way. The heart is our compass. It can give us our direction, especially when we are lost, or our souls are lost.
I remember a very, very dark time in my life. I was in my late teens / early twenties. I experienced a lot of soul loss then and felt like I lost my direction. I did not know what I wanted. I felt depressed and down. I cried every night. I had been through some pretty traumatic experiences that made me feel broken hearted, and no I was not love-sick. I experienced a lot of soul loss and felt like I lost direction because I was blamed for something very serious that was not my fault. This was a pretty traumatic experience that made me feel broken. I lost my compass for a period of time. I regained it by finding help, talking to people who could hear my side of the story, getting validation, journaling, sharing, and focusing on doing the work. I did a lot of work on healing my emotional self and finding what it is that I wanted to do in life. The biggest breakthrough was in finding and learning to have compassion for myself again. This is what brought back my compass.
Our hearts are a major influencer in our lives. They are where our love, compassion, and joy reside. They serve as the compass for our actions and guide us to do the right thing when our souls become lost. A strong heart can get you through until your soul heals.
Look at all the ways in which we refer to our hearts:
- I feel broken-hearted.
- I can feel this in my heart.
- What does your heart say?
- Do what you heart wants.
- All heart
- A big heart
- My heart swells
- A bleeding heart
- I did not have the heart to…
- Hard-hearted
- Heart is in the right place (having good intentions)
- Heart of the matter
- Heart’s desire
- Heavy-hearted
- Take heart
… and there are so many more! The metaphorical heart is so important. The acknowledgement of the matters of our non-physical heart are rooted in our language. Without realizing it, we are so aware and understand so much about the non-physical heart.
Many of these phrases refer to qualities of the heart that fit in perfectly with what Anthony has told us about the heart. Did you know that our hearts are record keepers? They keep record of our good intentions. This fits perfectly with the phrase, “Oh, his heart is in the right place!”
The heart also can grow in its purpose, which is to hold more compassion, joy and love & this growth can happen most, when ironically, we endure more struggle and hardship. Our language recognizes this as well with phrases like “big heart” and “my heart is swelling with pride.”
Anthony says that the heart can provide a safety net to our soul. Humor lightens and protects our heart and saying the words light heart is very powerful, because it can shift soul damage and heart damage. Keeping a sense of humor and a light heart can help us offload years of baggage. Humor protects our central nervous system and keeps the electricity in our bodies cool. This keeps the brain from heating up and keeps your electrical impulses functioning rather than short circuiting.
Remember I said in the blog post about the soul that we heal the soul by bringing in more of God’s light? Well, it is the same for the heart. This is why the statement that Anthony refers to all the time, KEEP A LIGHT HEART is so important for lightening the wounding and burden in our hearts. Emotional support work is also very helpful to unburden a heart that is heavy with emotional wounds.
In my upcoming retreat in Costa Rica, I am focusing a full day on each aspect of your full being – body, soul, heart and spirit. If you are interested in coming, you can schedule an exploratory call to learn more about the retreat and whether it’s a fit for you. Please click here to learn more about my Nourish Into Wholeness Retreat at the beautiful Imiloa Institute in Costa Rica.
Check out all the blog posts in this series to learn more about the body, heart, soul, and spirit – and how they are all interconnected.
