The Heart of the Matter

Proverbs 4:23 Above all else guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Another translation says it is the source of all life. Once again, the Father is sharing a very deep and important truth - not only spiritually but physically as well.

It is very true that our motives, our heart, is what God considers. In 1 Samuel 16:7, remember when God had Samuel looking at Jesse's sons in order to anoint one to be king, he kept looking at their outer appearance, but God corrected him and said not to do that. God said that He looks at the heart, not at how tall or kingly he might look on the outside.

You can do the nicest thing for someone and yet if you do it for the wrong reason or with a bad attitude it corrupts your blessing. Physically we know that heart health is critical. However, what I would like to focus on here is how central our heart is to every aspect of life. We consider the heart to be the core of our being, as in getting to the heart of a matter. We encourage others to speak and act from their heart or to follow or listen to their heart.

Much research has been done on how your heart rhythms affect your immune, hormonal and nervous systems. Your heart rhythm is a powerful energetic force that not only affects you, but also is felt by those around you. Did you know that your heart's energy field can be felt across the room? Just recall a time when a very angry person entered a crowded room and how that one person's energy changed the entire atmosphere of the room! Your heart-felt emotions and energy powerfully affect, not only you, but also the people around you. If you are a mom, that's your children and husband; at work your boss and coworkers. The converse is also true - you are also affected by other people's heart energy waves.

If you are constantly around negative, stressed out, angry people, it will begin to affect you - if you do not guard your heart. Spiritually, it can cause you to slip into fear or doubt. Emotionally, you may become stressed out, anxious, worried or depressed. Physically you may experience palpitations, headaches, digestive problems or elevated blood pressure.

The Father never gives us a command we are unable to obey. And if He tells us to do something, we can be sure it is for our good - always.

You may be thinking - "But how can I guard my heart?" Besides being aware of how others may be affecting you and limiting your exposure to toxic people and situations whenever possible, you can actually learn to control your heart rhythms.

When your heart rhythms are smooth, coherent and harmonious, you think more clearly, your mood is calm and positive and it impacts your physical health in a powerfully positive way. There are very simple techniques you can learn that can improve every area of your physical health as well as the atmosphere in your home and workplace.

I would encourage you to visit heartmath.org. They have a wealth of information, as well as books, educational tools and other resources to enable you to effectively "guard your heart."

You will reap incredible health benefits and your relationships may improve as well! Father definitely always knows best!

An Attitude of Gratitude

1 Thessalonians 5:18 ...give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Gratitude is more than saying a perfunctory "thanks" over your meal or celebrating Thanksgiving. It is a powerful force both spiritually as well as physically. In 1 Timothy 2:1 God includes the giving of thanksgiving as a prerequisite to true worship. Consider the story of the ten lepers Jesus healed in Luke 17:11-17. Ten men suffering the ravages of leprosy saw Jesus on the road and begged Him to heal them of that devastating disease. His instructions to them were to go show themselves to the priests and it says "as they went they were cleansed." Obedience by faith caused the cleansing of that physical disease. However, it goes on to say only one, a Samaritan, a despised foreigner, returned to praise and glorify God and thank Jesus when he realized what had taken place in his body. Jesus' response seems incredulous - He asks, "Were not ten cleansed - where are the other nine?" Gratitude is precious to Him. Jesus then tells this grateful man that his faith has made him "well." When I look at that word in the original Greek it actually means "to be made whole." This suggests that perhaps the nine were cleansed of the disease but that thankful man was not only cleansed but made whole. If leprosy had damaged his fingers, toes, nose, ears, they were made whole again! He received so much more than simply being healed.

It is true in the physical realm as well. Studies conducted on the effects of gratitude reveal that thankful people:

Handle stress better;
Are more optimistic;
Are more alert and energetic;
Attract gratitude and kindness from others; and
Are healthier overall.

The reasons for this are due to the fascinating manner in which God created our bodies. It is related to our nervous system which is divided into two parts, the voluntary and autonomic or involuntary. The voluntary controls movement and sensations and the autonomic is concerned with functions we don't even have to think about like digestion and blood pressure.The autonomic is further divided into two more branches - the sympathetic and parasympathetic. The sympathetic is the fight-or-flight system. It is concerned with our survival in a dangerous or stressful situation and acts as the body's defense system by activating organs and glands that provide the extra energy needed at those times. Because it necessitates so much energy expenditure, it breaks down the body if it is in operation too often or for too long. We now read about how the release of too much cortisol (the stress hormone) damages our bodies. The parasympathetic system is the rebuilding, nourishing, healing system. It stimulates the systems and organs that cause cleansing, stimulate our immune and digestive systems like the liver, stomach and pancreas. One or the other of these two systems are activated most of the time. Since the sympathetic system deals with our physical survival, it tends to overshadow the other. However, to enable your body to heal, rebuild and repair itself, it is critical to turn off the sympathetic system as much as possible while activating the parasympathetic. When you are experiencing chronic stress, even though it is not actual, physical danger causing the release of those hormones, it is damaging and breaks down your body systems. Stress of any type, as well as thinking negative, anxious, angry, fearful thoughts, activates the sympathetic nervous system.On the other hand, the parasympathetic system is activated by rest, relaxation and positive, happy thoughts, especially gratitude! Several studies found that healthy parasympathetic dominance occurs very infrequently and only in spiritually developed people as they tend to live in a state of peace, contentment and gratitude. It's hard to argue that Father really doesn't always know best!

Research was also done on how to optimize the coherence of the heart, or what they also refer to as the "emotional heart." Coherence simply refers to the heart's ability to adapt to certain situations and remain harmonious. The impact of thoughts and emotions in the test subjects was visible immediately as their heartbeats were observed on a monitor. Fearful, angry, anxious thoughts caused erratic rhythms. However, when the subjects exercised thoughts and feelings of joy, gratitude or love, the parasympathetic system normalized the heart rhythms.

The effective activation of the parasympathetic system naturally declines with age. However, as with any muscle in the body, or spiritual quality, it will respond if we exercise it consistently! We can consciously choose to exercise gratitude and joy daily and not only live happier lives, but healthier ones as well.