One Heart

We were given two hands to hold, two legs to walk, two eyes to see—but why only one heart, some ask? Romantics like to believe it’s because the second heart was given to someone else for us to find. This creates warm, fuzzy feelings of optimism. The search for the “other” is fueled by Hollywood, literature and lyrics—it’s the stuff that makes up our dreams.

If we consider how we treat the one heart we have, it’s just as well we weren’t given a second! The poor heart can be subjected to all kinds of abuse like clogged arteries, blackened with smoke and suffocated by a lack of fresh air and exercise. Or how quickly it’s handed over at the slightest promise of love—only to be broken and the cracks filled with heartache. The lure of being wanted and loved is a curse the heart must bear. If there’s a desire for more of this, we could join the earthworm family and have five hearts!

Sound reasoning underlies the one-heart decision. Apart from physiology, humans need only one heart; it fits into the grand scheme of things.

We’ve been given one precious heart with one seed—a kernel of love. Our sacred task is to find that seed at the bottom of the heart and to water it again and again so it grows to fill our entire being. A full heart emanates love to others and sprinkles their seeds. In this way we become what Kahlil Gibran described as “a fragment of Life’s heart.”

Instead of searching for that second heart to embrace the one you have, go forth and cultivate the seeds of love in others. Observe the mysterious ways in which love unfolds in life and reap the love you’ve sowed. Remember Mother Teresa’s words, “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love.”