Left, Right, Atria, Ventricle: Lub-Dub, Lub-Dub

The heart is resilient. Its about the size of one's fist. Its compact and durable. It beats about 115,000 times a day. Each lub-Dub, lub-Dub pumping our oxygen rich blood out into our bodies and simultaneously ridding us of excess carbon-dioxide. This organ, both electrical and muscular, empowers us, with life giving blood, but can also continue to beat outside of our bodies. It is literally, a self-sufficient part of us. It generates both life and love.

We celebrate it on a day of love and friendship and the other 364 days of the year, we take it for granted. While ours is small in comparison to a whales, which is the biggest of them all, a giraffe's is lopsided. This muscle we call a heart, deep inside our chest cavity, weighs about a pound, barely adding to our mass. But without it, we would not function. 

A woman's heart beats slightly faster than a man's- interesting, but insignificant in the scheme of things. Of the billions of cells in our bodies, heart cells are the ones that stop dividing, therefore heart cancer is rare. Another way it protects us. This vital organ can be damaged if we do not take care of it. We need to exercise and eat right.

Laughing is good for our heart, it relieves stress and calms our spirit. 

                      

                                            

Left, Right, Atria, ventricle, lub-Dub, lub-Dub. When the body is at rest it only takes six seconds for the blood to travel from the heart to the lungs and back, only eight seconds for it to go to the brain and back, and only sixteen seconds for it to reach the toes and travel all the way back to the heart. What a marvelous feat of engineering.

This same minute amount of time, this fraction of a thought, an action, an emotion is unnoticable. It is automatic, active, anonymous in our daily activities. We tend to focus on the feelings, the reactions, the joy. The love, friendship and beauty of relationships both romantic and platonic. But, beneath the sentiment, the over-priced chocolates and flowers of February 14th, lies a beating, electrical charge of life. 

The power output of a heart ranges from 1-5 watts. While the quadriceps can produce 100 watts for a few minutes, an output of one watt for 80 years, such as the heart provides, is equal to to 2.5 giga-joules. Our hearts are full of energy and this energy comes forth in circulation, respiration, digestion and every other function of our bodies. It is our life force. This tenuous, tissue, is not just an organ, it has come to represent emotion as well. It is the personification of kindness and generosity.

 Today on this Valentine's Day- I just wanted to send out a Valentine for the heart, my heart. A force of nature, that every day with 115,000 lub-Dub's,  allows me to go about my day with little fuss and fanfare. Thank you heart. If I pause and listen, I can hear it, feel it, and this for me is the best Valentine's gift ever- because it happens 365 days of the year, no card necessary.