Matters of the heart - editor's note - Brief Article

It's February, and in honor of that most heartfelt of holidays, Valentine's Day, February has been dubbed American Heart Health Month that we might ponder our own heart health. It's true that cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 cause of death in this country, killing 40 percent of the 2.5 million Americans who die each year. And it's true that it afflicts almost 62 million more Americans, who suffer from high blood pressure, stroke, hardening of the arteries and other forms of heart disease.

But it's also true that there is much we can do to reverse this trend through diet and exercise--as you'll find in "Get Heart Smart," p. 58, and in "The Good, the Bad and the Artery," p. 67--and a positive outlook on life. As we learn more about the body-mind-spirit connection, we are also discovering how important emotional and spiritual well-being is to our physical health. And that's where I turn from the heart of the matter to matters of the heart.

Even though I'm an incurable romantic who loves the wining and dining, champagne and chocolate, flowers and flourishes that have come to represent Valentine's Day, I also realize its true meaning as a day in which we can celebrate our ability, and opportunity, to love--whether it be a spouse, a significant other, family, friends--or ourselves.

My Valentine's Day gift to you is one that I hope will keep you ever heart-healthy--a gift of love you can give yourself, as quoted from Nelson Mandela, winner of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize and former president of South Africa, in his 1994 Inaugural Speech:

   Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
   Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
   It is our Light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
   We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and
   fabulous?"
   Actually, who are you not to be?
   You are a child of God.
   Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
   There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so
   that other people won't feel
   insecure around you.
   We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
   It's not just in some of us. It's in everyone
   And as we let our own Light shine, we unconsciously give
   other people permission to do the same.
   As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically
   liberates others.

This Valentine's Day, let your Light--and your love--shine!

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