What Is Heart

By: Dr. James A. Goetz

Heart is many things and heart is not many things. As we all know, heart is- [1](n)Anatomy. a hollow, pump-like organ of blood circulation, composed mainly of rhythmically contractile smooth muscle, located in the chest between the lungs and slightly to the left and consisting of four chambers: a right atrium that receives blood returning from the body via the superior and inferior vena cavae, a right ventricle that pumps the blood through the pulmonary artery to the lungs for oxygenation, a left atrium that receives the oxygenated blood via the pulmonary veins and passes it through the mitral valve, and a left ventricle that pumps the oxygenated blood, via the aorta, throughout the body.

While this may be the definition many know of as the anatomical part of one’s body to which pumps blood through ones system, it is not unlike the figurative definition of heart. Without this organ, ones physical body would cease proper function and would systematically shut down and perish. Likewise, without a figurative heart, one will also perish.

Heart helps you grow and as it pumps blood through your system, the metaphorical heart pumps that certain Je ne sais pas through your body taking you to the next level and attain the goal you set for yourself.

Heart is more than simply holding things together. Heart is more than getting by and surviving. Heart is more than saying you are trying your best. Heart is not simply getting up in the morning and going through the motions each day.

Heart is living life to its fullest in a dignified manner. Heart is giving your all for a greater purpose. Heart is doing whatever it takes in order to achieve a goal. Heart is having the fortitude to think outside the box and work outside the box when it is different than everyone else to achieve your goal. In order to have something you have never had, you must do something you have never done. Heart is not letting ones ego get in the way and allowing your inner mind to do what it is supposed to do. Heart is having the patience to complete the finite details which while may seem mundane they are very important. Heart is when you cannot breathe another breath or feel your body any longer as it is about to shut down and you have one giant hill in front of you and your goals and you persevere through it all to climb to the summit of your goals where you rise up, exhausted, and victorious.

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, either way you are right”- Henry Ford.

[1] American Psychological Association (APA):

heart. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved November 04, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/heart