Use your heart to guide you in making decisions, in following your intuition and in reading a situation. Cultivate a feeling of peace and gratitude in your heart as often as you can. Bring the awareness and presence of your heart into every situation.

Western Civilization has become very rational, linear and logical. We spend a lot of time with our attention focused on our cerebral cortex and not nearly enough time in our bodies, hearts and guts. The heart is a mechanical pump that moves blood around the body so that it gets oxygenated in the lungs. The heart regulates blood pressure and fluid balance. But it is also much more than that. When we need to make a decision, someone might ask, ‘What does your heart say?’ When we are fighting for a cause, we aim to ‘Win hearts and minds.’ When we have lost our vocation, we say, ‘My heart’s not in it anymore.’ When we have some exciting news, we say ‘My heart skipped a beat.’

It is easy to become aware of your heart. Place your fingers over your sternum in the centre of your chest. Bring your attention to the area beneath your fingers. Bring to mind someone or something that you love absolutely. Notice the sensations. You might notice a warmth, a fluttering or a beating. You might notice your eyes well up with tears of joy or sadness. When you do, smile back at your heart and kindle that feeling as you would a fire. Sometimes feelings of sadness, loss, bereavement or anger will come up at such a moment.

The cardiac nervous system makes decisions, processes emotions, contains memories and guides us with intuition, as well as sending practical, mechanical information back to the brain. The ancient Indian wisdom of tantra calls it the heart chakra, the conscious energy system arising from the heart. The heart produces electromagnetic waves many times greater than the brain. Our heart independently reacts to other hearts and other beings and continuously responds to what is going on in our mind and body. The pattern of our heartbeat changes instantaneously the moment any negative thought arises, and it changes again when we enter a state of gratitude and appreciation. We are just beginning to learn about the interaction between our emotions, heart and physical health. We know that stress, anger and unhappiness increases the risk of heart disease. Owning a dog reduces the risk of a heart attack, even allowing for the effect of extra exercise.

We feel love in our heart. Our values and vocation are felt in the heart. It is where we care. It is where compassion arises. We feel our attachments in the heart – to work, a lover, a football team. When we resonate with something or someone it is in the heart. We feel patriotism in our heart, which is one reason why it is difficult to verbalise and why we are willing to fight to the death when it feels violated. In a child, heart needs to be nurtured by a loving figure, usually a parent, although it may also be an animal, teacher or relative.

Sometimes the heart gets blocked by an emotional wound that causes the person to cut themselves off, detach and live defensively. This can present as physical and mental health problems or as a disconnection from love and life. The wounded heart can be very dangerous indeed. This can be the cause of extreme violence, sadism and cruelty. Hearts can be unblocked with therapy.

The heart, head, spirit and gut all connect up. When we live in our heads, we are intellectualising and cold. Disconnection from the heart leads to heartless bureaucracy, mistreating others, being indifferent to suffering. When people act from their hearts, they act with love, courage, conviction maximum energy and determination. If they act from their heads, they act in a calculating, sometimes equivocating way. When we speak from the heart, we speak with simplicity, conviction, kindness and warmth. Compassion is not a monopoly held by spiritual or liberal people. Soldiers fight with their heart. Patriots love their country with their heart, and great sports people compete with heart.