My friend Audrey shared a quote with me
recently, and it has stayed with me for weeks. The quote is from Brother David Steindl-Rast:
"The heart is a leisurely muscle. It differs from all other
muscles. How many push-ups can you make before the muscles in your arms and
stomach get so tired that you have to stop? But your heart muscle goes on
working for as long as you live. It does not get tired, because there is a
phase of rest built into every single heartbeat. Our physical heart works
leisurely. And when we speak of the heart in a wider sense, the idea that
life-giving leisure lies at the very center is implied. Never to lose sight of
that central place of leisure in our life would keep us youthful. Seen in this
light, leisure is not a privilege but a virtue. Leisure is not the privilege of
a few who can afford to take time, but the virtue of all who are willing to
give time to what takes time - to give as much time as a task rightly
takes."
And so, my eternal
fascination with the capacity of the human heart is, once again, activated.
On a physical level, our
heart does the work of keeping us alive, responding to what's needed in the
moment—be that a rapid rate increase when we make a mad dash to pull our child
out of danger, or slowing way down when we lay in our bed at night to sleep. The
heart makes these adjustments constantly, without fail. Lub dub. Lub dub.
On an energetic level,
it is the connecting point between ourselves and those around us, actively
sending and receiving communication via the large electromagnetic field it
generates. Read my last blog post, Listen to Your Heart, for more information on this amazing function of our hearts.
On an emotional level,
it is where we feel our connection with others. Where we feel love. There’s a
reason that the universal symbol for love is a drawing of the heart.
The heart does a lot.
What fascinates me about the above quote is the very simple, yet powerful,
observation that the heart does all of this work, yet it never gets tired. I
never really thought about it, I guess. How many push-ups can I do before my
arms get tired? Umm....maybe one! But my heart beats regularly, all day, every
day. How much do we all take this function for granted, never realizing that
our heart is working, non-stop and tirelessly, all day every day?
The idea that the
heart is able to work in this way is because there is a phase of rest built
into every single heartbeat is a key understanding. Even when demand is high
and our heart rate increases, there’s still a phase of rest between each beat.
From my days as a
nurse in the Coronary Care Unit, I know what happens when the rest period
between heartbeats is compromised. When the beats become an arrhythmia, when
they come so close together or erratically that the heart can’t recover, it can’t
rest between beats. Chest pain ensues. Soon my patient would be gasping for
air. If untreated, the muscle in the heart became damaged; ultimately, I
witnessed patients who died when the phase of rest between heartbeats was not
allowed. We had to interrupt the arrhythmia, with drugs or electroshock, to
re-set the normal rhythm of the heart. To re-initiate the rest period.
So, as we can see, the
rest period is essential for life. Which begs the question: is it not also
essential for us to have this leisurely sense of rest between the “beats” of
our day-to-day lives? Is that what can keep us energized, and vital, and engaged?
Do we need a re-set in our lives, to open space for leisurely rest between the
beats?
Brother Steindl-Rast
closes his quote with words that may just be the key to finding this sweet
spot, the place of life-giving leisure in our madcap daily lives. He says:
“Leisure is not the privilege of a few who can afford to take time, but
the virtue of all who are willing to give time to what takes time - to give as
much time as a task rightly takes."
When we are engaged in
the mad press of life, pushing hard to get everything done, thinking about what
we have to do next as we’re talking with someone or engaging in a task...we’re barely
able to keep up, it seems. No rest between the beats. Chest pain ensues, right?
Gasping for air, sometimes. If we slow down...do only what’s in front of
us...give time to what takes time...what a different experience life can be!
A few simple
suggestions, things I’ve been implementing in my life:
- Stop multi-tasking! When talking on the phone, step away from the computer, the
dishes, the sweeping or straightening up. Be present with whoever is on the
other end of the phone. Put down your smart phone during dinner, or while you’re
driving. Enjoy the leisure of doing one thing at a time.
- Avoid mind-creep! Mind creep happens when I’m thinking about the next thing I
have to do as I’m completing the thing I have to do right now...OMG, can this
amp up the rat-race! Focus on what you’re doing in the moment, and politely
dismiss intruding thoughts with “I’ll get to you later. I promise.”
- Finish the job! Often, when I feel pressed, I am tempted to only do what
absolutely must be done right now, with the intention of finishing later (what,
when I have more time?? Seriously?). What I’ve come to realize is that the few
moments it takes to really finish the job actually saves me time and stress
later. I don’t have to add it to my list of things to do—instead,
I can cross it off my list! Often when we think we’re saving minutes, we’re
only making things worse. Complete the beat, to use the heart metaphor, before
you start the next beat. Otherwise, your rhythm can become chaotic, and before
you know it, chest pain ensues...and then you can’t breathe...get the picture?
- Keep your eye on the
ball! To use Steindl-Roth’s words: “Never to lose sight of that central place of
leisure in our life would keep us youthful.” Holding this sense of leisure
as a central place in your life can not only keep you youthful, it can
dramatically improve the quality of the time you spend accomplishing the tasks
in your life, and your relationships with the people you interact with, and
your sense of self-love...and so much more.
We can learn a lot
about living a peaceful life from the wisdom of our own bodies. Listen to your
heart. Learn from its wisdom.
It’s a worthwhile
course of study.
Heartbeat image #1 from http://pixshark.com/heart-beats-png.htm
Heartbeat image #2 from http://stuffled.com/vector/love-heartbeat/
