Heart Pieces

As we go through life, we leave lit­tle pieces of our heart behind. Nos­tal­gia is when we remem­ber where we left them. The trick to life is hav­ing enough heart left to go for­ward. Dis­heart­ened peo­ple are defeated indi­vid­u­als. Being bro­ken­hearted is expe­ri­enc­ing a dis­rup­tion in the parts of our psy­che that must work together to be able to con­tinue the journey.

We have sea­sons for all of these expe­ri­ences. For the ancients, and in the vocab­u­lary of early Chris­tians, the heart was con­sid­ered the repos­i­tory for the mind AND the feel­ings. Today we tend to sep­a­rate them. Many of us live in our heads rather than our hearts. Ideas are safe places. Emo­tions can be fright­en­ing. Con­tem­po­rary peo­ple often allow the split to expand until they for­get how or what to feel — or even that they feel. Head-work is rewarded with a pay­check. We set­tle for things. Emo­tions are just too messy.

Some­where along the way, a per­son gets tired of liv­ing half a life. At great risk, he or she begins to pick up the heart pieces and recon­nect with the painful past, so that the future may be vibrant and full. Heal­ing is when we embrace the whole. To ignore our losses is to lose the very pieces we need to learn, grow, and go onward. If we obsess on a par­tic­u­lar loss, we get stuck in a sin­gle expe­ri­ence that becomes the greater par­a­digm — then we ARE in trouble.

Carly Simon was right (in an old 70’s song), “there is more room in a bro­ken heart.” Hearts that heal are larger — more accept­ing - more under­stand­ing — more lov­ing. Adding the pieces to what has already grown back makes the sum greater than the parts. Hearts beyond midlife or after a dis­as­ter can become deeper as well as larger. God’s heart is infi­nite — bro­ken so many times, but able to pick up ALL of the pieces.