Matters of the Heart: What is your Heart telling you?

What do we really know of the human heart? This question kept arising lately, catching my eye in an ad for Valentine’s Day, or within my work as a physical therapist in home health, where I regularly see the effects of various life stressors; heart failure, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases. The most inspiring guidance for me was from a passage in the Bible that literally sprang off the page today and initiated a new line of thought,…which for me, connected the dots:

“For the Lord does not see as man sees; for a man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1Samuel 16:7

I am a trained scientist, licensed medical provider, herbalist and natural-healing supporter. This allows me to look at a situation, or problem from multiple points of view, often keeping me outside of the proverbial ‘box’,…which my clients are grateful for. Therefore, if Our Creator doesn’t worry about the outer appearance, and is focused on the heart, well, this seems to be pretty indicative that it’s the most important reflection of who we are. This intrigued me to look deeper into what the heart really tells us.

The Biologist in me looks anatomically at how the heart is put together functionally. This was nicely summarized by University of Rochester Medical Center