Your Heart: The First Declaration of Your Existence

I want to tell you about the moment I stopped being afraid of the dark — not the literal dark, but the metaphorical one.

We arrive, and from the very first moment, we are asked to navigate a world of profound complexity, of immense beauty and sometimes, shattering pain. We search for our purpose, for our place, for the through-line that makes sense of it all. We look to our minds, our careers, our relationships, our achievements. But what if the first, and most profound, declaration of our purpose was made long before we could think, or strive, or even take our first breath?

I remember sitting with a young woman, a client, whose life was a testament to her incredible capability. She had built a successful business, curated a beautiful home, and was a pillar of strength for her friends and family. Yet, she sat across from me, her hands clenched in her lap, and confessed a feeling of deep, gnawing emptiness. “I feel like I have to keep doing, keep achieving,” she whispered, “to prove I have a right to be here.”

Her words landed with such resonance, a feeling I have come to know so intimately in my work and in my own journey. This deep-seated belief that our existence is conditional, that our worth must be earned through relentless effort. It’s a pattern of the wounded heart, a heart that learned somewhere along the way that it must sacrifice itself, must over-give, to justify its own beat.

But the heart’s truth is so much more fundamental, so much more unconditional than that. Let’s go back. Back to the very beginning, to that dark, watery sanctuary of the womb. Before the intricate latticework of the brain began to form, before the delicate buds of limbs emerged, there was a flicker. A pulse. A rhythmic, insistent beat.

It was the heart. The very first distinct organ to manifest.

Before thought, before identity, before any external validation, your heart declared, I am here. I choose this journey. Let life begin.

This is not just poetry; it is biological fact. That first heartbeat was the primary act of creation, the initial signature of your unique consciousness entering into matter. It was a declaration of purpose in its purest form. It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. A profound, unwavering assertion of your right to exist. You are here because your heart chose to beat.

The Sun of Your Inner Solar System

Think of your heart as the central sun of your own inner solar system. Just as the sun radiates light and warmth, holding all the planets in its gravitational embrace, your heart circulates the very essence of life through your entire being. We learn in school that it pumps blood, delivering oxygen and nutrients. And this is true, a miracle of biological engineering. But the body’s wisdom teaches us that it circulates so much more.

It circulates energy. Life force. Prana. Chi. It is the engine of your vitality, the center of a vast, intelligent network. When the heart is open and coherent, this life-giving energy flows unimpeded, nourishing every cell, every organ, every system. We feel radiant, alive, connected. When the heart is constricted by fear, grief, or the old story that we are not enough, that flow is diminished. We feel depleted, isolated, and tired. The planets of our inner system grow cold and dim.

Modern neuroscience is now beginning to catch up with this ancient wisdom. Scientists have discovered that the heart has its own complex nervous system, a “heart-brain” of around 40,000 neurons. It can sense, feel, learn, and remember independently of the brain in your head. The heart sends far more information to the brain than the brain sends to the heart.

Even more astonishing is the heart’s electromagnetic field. It is, by far, the most powerful rhythmic bioelectric signal produced by the body. The heart s field is about 60 times greater in amplitude than the electrical activity generated by the brain, and it can be detected several feet away from the body in all directions.

Think about that for a moment. Your heart is broadcasting a powerful, energetic signature into the world around you. When you walk into a room, your heart’s field interacts with the fields of others before you even speak a word. This is not woo-woo thinking; it is measurable physics. It is the science behind the feeling you get from some people—that sense of calm, of safety, of warmth. You are literally feeling the coherence of their heart’s field.

Coming Home to the Heart

I have a deep, abiding reverence for the heart. In my three decades of work as a healer, I have witnessed again and again that the longest and most arduous journey we can make is the eighteen inches from our head to our heart. We get so lost in the labyrinth of our thoughts, in the relentless analysis and problem-solving of the mind. The mind is a magnificent tool, but it is not the source of our wisdom. The heart is.

When we are disconnected from our heart, we live in a state of perpetual negotiation with life. We try to control outcomes, manage perceptions, and strategize our way to safety and love. It is exhausting. It is the source of the clenched jaw, the tight shoulders, the shallow breath. It is the signature of a nervous system caught in a chronic state of fight-or-flight. The body, in its infinite wisdom, is simply responding to the heart’s perceived state of exile.

Coming home to the heart is a practice. It is a gentle, moment-by-moment turning of our attention inward. It is learning to listen to its quieter, more subtle language—the language of feeling, of intuition, of a deep, inner knowing that transcends logic. It is the practice of asking, not “What do I think?” but “What do I feel?” Not “What should I do?” but “What does my heart know?”

One of the most powerful ways to begin this journey is simply to place a hand on your heart. Feel the warmth of your own touch. Feel the gentle rise and fall of your chest with each breath. And then, begin to breathe a little more deeply, a little more slowly. Imagine with each in-breath that you are drawing in pure, unconditional love and acceptance. Imagine with each out-breath that you are releasing the old stories, the self-judgment, the fear.

This simple act is a profound form of neural repatterning. You are signaling to your nervous system that you are safe. You are creating a state of heart coherence, where the rhythms of your heart, brain, and breath align. In this state, the body’s innate capacity for healing is activated. The mind becomes clear and calm. And you begin to remember the truth of who you are—not a being who must earn love, but a being who is love.

The Courage to Receive

In the source material for the Body Cards, the heart’s core teaching is about the balance of giving and receiving. Its two-way pumping mechanism is a perfect metaphor for this sacred dynamic. Yet, so many of us have learned that it is better—safer, more noble—to give than to receive. A heart that only gives, that pumps its life force outward without allowing itself to be replenished, will eventually run dry. This is the anatomy of burnout, of compassion fatigue, of the heart attack that is the heart’s desperate, final cry for attention.

To receive is an act of profound courage. It requires a fundamental sense of self-worth, the deep inner knowing that you are worthy of being filled, of being nourished, of being loved. It is a radical act in a world that so often teaches us the opposite. But it is the key to a heart that can extend love without depletion, a heart that becomes a source-fed river rather than a stagnant pond.

Your heart’s first declaration was not one of service or sacrifice. It was a declaration of being. Your purpose is not to exhaust yourself in the giving. Your purpose is to embody the love that you are, and to let that love radiate outward naturally, as effortlessly as the sun shines. It is to be so full of your own life force that your very presence becomes a gift.

So, I invite you today to pause. To place a hand on your chest and feel that steady, faithful rhythm that has been with you from the very beginning. It is the rhythm of your own belonging. It is the sound of your own unwavering worth. Let it be the anchor that brings you home to yourself, again and again.

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Explore Related Systems

Your body is an interconnected web of wisdom. Each system speaks to and through the others. Continue your exploration:

• When You Cannot Breathe: Suffocation, Grief, and Your Lungs
• The Sacred Symbol of Nurture: What Your Breasts Are Telling You

More on Heart:

• Heart Attacks of the Soul: When Your Heart Demands Attention
• Dis-heartened: When Giving Depletes and Receiving Feels Impossible

May you remember the profound truth of your own heart’s first declaration. May you trust its wisdom, honor its rhythm, and have the courage to receive the infinite love that is your birthright.

With infinite love and support on your journey, Susan

The Heart as a Vessel for Grief and Joy

It is also essential to understand that the heart, in its immense capacity, is designed to hold the full spectrum of human emotion. It is a vessel not just for love and connection, but also for grief, for sorrow, for the pain of loss. We often try to shield our hearts from these experiences, believing them to be negative or damaging. We build walls, we numb ourselves, we distract ourselves, all in an effort to avoid the ache of a broken heart.

But a heart that has never been broken is a heart that has never truly loved. Grief is the natural, necessary counterpart to love. It is the measure of our connection, the testament to what mattered. To deny grief is to deny the love that preceded it. The heart knows how to hold this pain. It knows how to metabolize sorrow, transforming it into a deeper capacity for compassion, for empathy, for a more profound appreciation of the fleeting beauty of life.

When we allow ourselves to feel our grief fully, without judgment or resistance, we are not shattering our hearts. We are expanding them. We are creating more space within ourselves to hold both the sorrow and the joy, the darkness and the light. The heart that can weep is also the heart that can experience the most exquisite joy. The two are inextricably linked. A heart that is closed to one is closed to the other.

So, let your heart be a sanctuary for all of your feelings. Trust its resilience. Trust its alchemical power to transform pain into wisdom. Your heart is not a fragile thing to be protected from life. It is a powerful, dynamic, and ever-expanding center of your being, capable of holding the totality of your human experience with grace and courage. It is the source of your deepest strength and your most profound connection to the sacredness of all that is.