The Power of the Heart: Finding Your True Purpose in Life by Baptist de Pape

living in fear, the heart structure is very different than if you’re living in love, or compassion, or kindness, or equanimity.
    Scientific research has shown that, when the rhythm of your heart is calm and coherent, your body is in better balance, which in turn improves your health and well-being.
     HOWARD MARTIN
    It’s obvious that the emotions associated with the heart are the ones that are healthy for us. They’re the ones that regenerate. There have been a lot of studies on the effect of negative emotions like, for example, anger and things like that. They are not good for us. Studies we’ve done on things like care show that there’s a regenerative effect created by having more of those emotions that are heart-related emotions. Care, appreciation, love, those emotions regenerate us. They are good for our health. They create hormonal changes in our body that last for a long time. The heart is having a lot of influence on the body beyond the fact that it’s just pumping blood. It’s influencing brain function, hormonal releases, and immune system response. All the major body systems are being influenced by the heart.
    Not only is your health of crucial importance to your heart, but your heart is of crucial importance to your health. As soon as you connect with your heart and experience all the positive emotions it facilitates, you improve your health.
     DEAN SHROCK
    Feeling loved and cared for, feeling heard and understood is actually the key to health.
     MARCI SHIMOFF
    There are some wonderful fringe benefits of experiencing a greater state of love. When you’re feeling more love, you have better health, you live longer. On average people who are happier or who are experiencing more love live nine years longer. You are more creative, with greater brain capacity. You are more successful. You have better relationships. You’re a better parent and you magnetize more love to you. So, all areas of your life are affected by your experience of living in a greater state of love.
    When you are not entirely happy in your own skin, however, your health inevitably suffers the consequences. In fact, the continued stress from irritation, anger, or frustration increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. Negative emotions seriously undermine your health, weaken your immune system, and make you more susceptible to illness.
     HOWARD MARTIN
    An interesting little experiment was done here at the Institute of HeartMath one day between a boy and a dog. The dog’s name was Mabel, a wonderful old sweet labrador retriever who had a relationship with Josh, the son of Rollin McCraty, director of research at HeartMath. McCraty put heart monitors on both Josh and Mabel to measure changes in their heart rhythms and to see if heart rhythms were coherent or incoherent. When he brought them together, their heart rhythms became coherent atthe same time and synchronized together. The love exchanged by living systems, by living beings, creates changes in our heart rhythms that influence how we function.
    Two different hearts can actually beat as one. A coherent heartbeat is a healthy heart rhythm.
    Generating positive emotions is the best method of getting rid of stress. Your heart plays a prominent role in this, because it is an inexhaustible source of positive emotions.
     DEAN SHROCK
    I’ve found in my work that when people feel freer to be themselves, to do what really brings them the greatest peace of mind, then, in fact, it literally registers in their bodies in a way that makes them healthier. I experience that so frequently in working with cancer, specifically where people would truly now reorient their lives to what it is that was most important, and then take the personal responsibility to make sure they were doing things that brought them joy on a daily basis. Make sure also that you’re paying attention to the food you’re eating, what you’re putting in your body, and that you’re keeping your body fit.
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