It as simple as a ABC, if you have a heart and a brain, they need to be supplied with blood for the human to remain alive. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are leading causes of death globally, estimated 17.9 million people died from CVDs in 2019, representing 32% of all global deaths. CVDs is brought on by a blockage to the arteries that supply the heart and the brain. What is so tragic is that it can be prevented in most cases by behaviour change. I am not a medical profession, so I will not dabble in that which I know little about, I will stay in my lane as an observer of life. And as an observer of life I want to look at the heart from an emotional and psychological well-being point of view.
The scripture admonishes us to guard our heart with all diligence for out of it flows the issues of life, our emotional heart has arteries supplying it, blockage in these arteries will affect us. A heart attack is an emergency to the medical professionals, in the same manner we must treat the blockage in our emotional heart with the same urgency otherwise we will pay the dear consequences. The aim is to restore the flow, by thinning the blood, removing the blockage or doing a bypass, grafting in new arteries, but what they wouldn’t do is leave the heart without supply, it is matter of life and death!
In our lives, we might sometimes have to ‘thin the blood’ around situations and people that have troubled our existence. We don’t always have the luxury to remove the culprits or remove ourselves from the culprits in the same manner that not all plague will be removed from the arteries, we might have to take the ‘Aspirin of life’, allowing forgiveness, turning the other cheek, allowing love to ease the flow of blood around the blockage. Some people will never change, some circumstances we can not change, sometimes we can not remove ourselves and those times we must re-frame the narrative, we must find a way to put a positive spin, to allow the blood to flow around it. What we can not do is allow bitterness and unforgiveness to eat us up. Unforgiveness has been defined as a state of emotional and mental distress that results from a delayed response in forgiving an offender. This is CVD situation requiring prompt attention.
Other times the blockage must be removed, this is beyond the scope of Aspirin, no thinning of the blood will allow any flow, the blockage has reached the walls of the arteries. No forgiveness, no walking in love, no turning the other cheek will do, this is the time to flee! We have to extricate ourselves from certain people and situations, otherwise it/they will stifle life out of us. It is a survival drive, either the operation and we live or we keep the blockage and die. Which ever way there is a price to pay. The operation is not pain free. There is a recuperation period. there is a time of confusion and loneliness when we cut ourselves from toxicity, there will be void, a gap, but a worthwhile one that will fill up in time for our long term survival.
Finally for this write up there are times when new arteries have to be grafted in to supply the heart. We have to actively build new supplies of healthy reinforcement into our lives. The heart can not exist without its supplies. The flow must be restored. Be out there, find your flow, your tribe, your lift, your joy, your happiness. As we said earlier behavioural choices affect our physical heart, the same applies to our emotional and psychological well being. Let us all make healthy choices and have active positive experiences. Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life.
Let it flow!
Beautiful Ivory 