Nourishment for the Heart- Is Your Drought Over?

We can think of our heart’s health much like the planet’s.  Much of America has been living under drought conditions for the past few years.  California especially has been under a drought.  Rain has come to California making people wonder if the drought is over.  http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news

Many people live with a drought of their heart.  Their hearts are dying for nourishment.

Our hearts need nourishment.  They need it on all levels.  We need physical nourishment, emotional nourishment, and spiritual nourishment.   If our heart is living in a drought condition it cannot be truly well.

Most cardiologists work at the physical level of the heart.  This is good.  We have to address the physical issues if we want to be well.  The foundation of health, heart health begins with what we put into out bodies.  If we deny our heart what it needs physically it will eventually become sick.  A drought of essential nutrients is bad.

Not long ago I saw a man in his late 50’s.  He had been in the hospital with a heart attack.  It was his fourth time to find that he had heart blockages and to receive cardiac stents to open up these blockages.  I said to him, “Why do you think you continue to get blockages?”

“I don’t know,”  he said.

“Well, something in you body is causing the development of heart blockages.  I could be your smoking, your family history, your physical inactivity,  your stress, or what you are eating.  These are your risk factors.  Unless you change the things you can change you are going to continue to develop blockages.  Wouldn’t it be better to prevent the formation of heart blockages and stay out of the hospital?”  I said.

I had reviewed his diet and found he consumed large quantities of high fat foods.

He looked at me with a look of puzzlement.  “You mean I would have to give up eating hamburgers and steaks?”  He made a face, “boy, I’m not sure I can do that.”

You might think this is a rare encounter.  Unfortunately, it is quite common.  The vast majority of people have difficulty understanding that what they eat plays a dominant role in the development of their heart disease.  They don’t understand that proper nourishment is essential and that proper eating habits are paramount.

Even more difficult is trying to convince someone that their emotions/stress could be a major culprit in getting heart disease.  Hundreds of research studies have proven that emotional pain, stress, and what I call having a “broken heart”  can created heart illness.

People understand this on an intellectual level but trying to convince them to attend a yoga class, take up meditation, or learn the technique of Practicing Remembrance is difficult.

The same can be said of spiritual health: hope, faith, love, forgiveness- all of these spiritual qualities are extremely important.  If they are not present in the proper balance and quality, then a person can become ill.

I can’t tell you how many patients I have seen who developed heart disease because they lacked hope. Hope of a better life, hope of becoming well, hope of being loved- with out hope many people cannot heal.  My spiritual teacher has said that hope is the most important thing a doctor can give his patients.

I think he is right.

So what is happening in your life.  Is your heart being properly nourished?  If you’ve been suffering through a droght of some kind- is it over?