Healing I
the Broken Heart by Reverend David Corvini
n 1990, a group of Japanese physicians noticed that patients who had suffered severe emotional trauma often experienced the symptoms of a heart attack. They then
discovered that these patients also developed the same pat- terns of heart muscle damage that occur following an actual heart attack. After intensive investigation these findings were validated and the phenomenon became known as ‘Broken Heart Syndrome’. In ‘Broken Heart Syndrome’, the damage can be so severe that it even leads to heart failure. While most of us have not
experienced a heart attack, we all have experienced emotional pain. Sometimes it has been sudden, crushing and unbearable while at other times it has been tolerable but long-suffered. Some- times we have bounced right back and, at other times, we have wondered if we would ever recover. In one way or another we all have had our hearts broken.
Seeking Emotional Health Despite our advances in medicine, we still have an ex- tremely limited understanding of the relationship between emotional and physical health. For example, we know that a heart attack is caused when a clogged artery deprives the heart muscle of oxygen. But we have only just discov- ered that emotional pain can damage the heart physically and, even after years of study, the mechanism of injury still remains a mystery. This is because we have been looking for the cause in the physical world when it really lies in the spiritual. The heart is both a physical and spiritual organ. Just as oxygen is what supplies the physical heart, love is what supplies the spiritual heart. Without love, our hearts begin to ache. If the flow of love remains restricted, our hearts become scarred, not just emotionally but physically. We may be in the habit of ignoring it but if we pay attention we will notice that when we don’t feel loved, our hearts hurt. At the first signs of a heart attack we rush to the emer-
gency room to get help. This is not how we have handled emotional distress. The usual procedure has been to deny, suppress or run away from it. I would like to suggest a completely different approach. Rather than trying to avoid emotional pain, accept it and embrace it. Be willing to feel it. If lack of love is the problem, shutting down your heart
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will only make things worse. Keeping your heart open, even when it hurts, is the only way you will be able to understand what you are feeling. Understanding what you are feeling will start the flow of love back to your heart and begin the healing process.
Healing from Within Next, you will need to bring your heart to a source of love that is much greater than you are. Many people get stuck on the painful seesaw of alternating between hating the world for the hurt they have suffered, and then desperately hoping that someone or something will make them feel better. Such an outer pursuit of healing will always fail. Just as your physi- cal heart needs its own oxygen from the source of oxygen itself, your spiritual heart needs its own love from the source of love itself. Seeking heal- ing externally is like trying to breathe oxygen from someone else’s mouth—you will be left gasping. Although it is the last place we look, the source of love dwells within each of us. Some people think this is a trite concept and shrug it off. Others think it is an inspiring idea. But very few actually dive in and find
out if it is true. In the past several years, medi-
tation has been gaining popularity and there are now countless meditative techniques available for you to try. Science has proven that many of these have significant physical health benefits. But beyond physical
health, one of the most powerful aspects of medita- tion is the practice of bringing our wounded hearts to the source of love that resides within each of us. It
takes courage to embrace a broken heart. It takes discipline to resist the temptation to run from your pain or suppress it through activities, addictions or substitutes for love. And, it takes patience and practice to learn how to become still enough to go within. But it is possible for anyone to enter into the safety of the inner realm and approach the holy place where love resides. From this place of sanctity, if you open your heart wide, this love will respond and begin to fill you. With continued devotion to this love, miraculous healing will come about. Love is what will heal your broken heart. This kind of meditation is the way to that love. Why not begin today?
Reverend David Corvini has been teaching and lecturing about the inner spiritual path for nine years and co-directs the Center of Light in Warwick. He also works as an emer- gency physician for St. Anthony Hospital. He can be reached at 347-884-1709 or
NewYork@CentersOfLight.org or
NewYork.CentersOfLight.org.
Photo © niyenar/photoxpress
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