Science  of the Heart 

*Did you know . . 

The entire body is
wired to respond to our thoughts and emotions.

Appreciation and                  anger produce opposite       effects in the body.          Appreciation makes the heart beat  with internal coherence, that is, it      beats more smoothly           and regularly, in turn entraining other organs into a similar coherent, healthy state.

Meditation increases      the hormone DHEA    which helps to reduce stress and improve               memory.                              A 20 percent increase       in DHEA has shown a      48 percent decrease in       heart disease.

Heart centered        meditation focused upward reduces           overall stress, while       heart centered                        meditation focused               downward  helps us      more effectively deal      with the stress we                 do have.

Care and compassion      for five minutes causes   the immune system to      be elevated for five               hours, while thinking 'anger and frustration'          for five  minutes                    depresses it for five hours.

Laughter increases oxygen levels in the     blood which produces endorphins, the feel-    good hormones which  strengthen the         immune system. 

Prayer can improve       self- esteem, anxiety       and depression                      in both those prayed        for and those doing the       praying.

How to pray?
One good way is to start     by focusing in your heart and experiencing genuine gratitude for the situation just the way it is. Then visualize the way you request it to be, and feel it, experience it as already       happening. Appreciate        this as your preference, your request, not a demand. Say thanks for both the opportunity to choose, and to also appreciate Life as it is.   Live knowing your     prayers are already answered, and keep acting  in ways harmonious to manifesting your prayer.

Collective           consciousness is real,   and it only takes a  few     of us to make a  huge           difference in the                    emotional and mental           climate of the world.             Consider the mathematic     proof that a butterfly            flapping its wings on           one side of the world      can cause a tornado         on the other; or the          hundredth monkey experiment; or the                 power of Ghandi,                  Nelson Mandela,                   Princess Di, my mother,
your grandmother,   
our school teachers, children playing,               the bus driver,               wind, rain, trees,             birds soaring,                   cats purring,                   people singing together      all over the world.

*Most information               here is from scientific studies compiled and overviewed by David Hamilton, Ph.D. in his  book It's the Thought  That Counts. www. drdavidhamilton.com

For heart centered meditation info and
practices, see Susanna   and Puran Bair' s work       at www.iamheart.org.

Why do you love me?
Just Because

Why do we get the joy of more time with Mom,      and yet Aunt Rosaleen is now suddenly gone?
Just Because

Why in those scary nights together in the cardiac care unit did we sing 'Tell Me Why', like Nick did with his mother and dad, probably at about the very same time? Why did his mom pass on, and we're still together? Why did you arrange for us    to sing this same song in our upcoming concert?
Just Because                                       
                          ♥♥♥

Tell Me Why is an old traditional song we used sing in the car as kids. It asks one to "Tell Me Why . . . the stars shine, the ivy twines, and why the sky's so blue. And if you can, I'll tell you why I love you."                                                                                              And of course, the beloved answers,
"Well . . . Because God made the stars to shine, the ivy twine, and the sky so blue. Because God made you, that's why I love you."                             

It all adds up to 'Just Because.' And honestly,             whether we're eight or eighty-six, "I love you . . .        just because you are" is really the most wonderful, satisfying experience.                                                                                                                            
Mom's 86. She had a surprise heart attack and triple bypass in December. Stunningly she's okay now, blood pumping better than ever, and while a little        more fragile, also more sparkly than just six months ago.  Her heart seemed to say "Wake up!", and she did, and so did we. We so intensely experienced our fear of losing each other that we started loving each other more openly.   

Mom spent 2 1/2 weeks in the cardiac and surgical     care units of the hospital. My sister Michele and I traded off spending time with her, initially doing it that way to give each other rest, though soon it was so we could each enjoy privacy in the luscious intimate spaces Mom was making with us. She would draw us in near her, hold our hands, and speak into our eyes    and hearts with a well known and often hidden            gentleness and compassion, a reflective wisdom that    was so simply kind that we were literally changed by   it. Mom's heart shut down, then opened, and then       opened our hearts some more, too.                           

Two nights before Mom's surgery, Michele and I        stayed overnight in the Cardiac Care Unit with her.     She'd had a restless night the night before and we       were trying to help her rest, help her not be too           afraid. (Who am I kidding? I was scared out of my mind, no longer a figure of speech.) It was dark in the unit that night. Michele was on one side of the bed. I   was on the other, each of us holding one of Mom's      hands. At some point, after so many intense days        together, it seems like there's not much more to say.    So like we'd done for so many years as kids, I said,    "Let's sing," and out popped the old apropos favorite, Tell Me Why.

We might have ended at the first verse, but hooked     up to every monitoring, heart pumping, intravenous  everything you can imagine, Mom broke into harmony with the second verse, so we sang on. I swear it, we   could feel the darkened room sparkling with Light.      Mom slept peacefully that night, with either Michele    or I at her side holding her hand. Her occasional soft squeeze told us she knew we were there. Life and      death are easier together.     

That old song made new life that night, and is surely our signature favorite. We smile deep inside when we sing it. We'll be recording it for posterity, and are likely to play it when it is time to finally say goodbye to one of us. No matter who is how old, we don't know which one of us, or when it will be. We just know it will be. Just Because.                           

                          ♥♥♥                      

Don't miss the moments to love and more intimately know people, and to let them know it's so . . .  just because. Everyday we can learn to better understand and communicate with one another. Doing so is an art and skill that we can learn, and polish with more Love. Something real and magical has made it possible. 

Tell Me Why . . . Why is it so? Why is it possible?
Because God made you . . .   just because.