by

Reverend Marcia Howland

Vanna White wore a special red dress for the Friday show “Wheel of Fortune” as a spokesperson for adDRESS Women’s Heart Awareness Campaign sponsored by Campbell’s Soup. The statistic for 2010 is that about 1.1 million Americans will suffer a heart attack. Some 500,000 will not survive it. Other chronic illnesses such as diabetes and arthritis stalk us in different ways.

Besides cholesterol build up, other factors are involved. Risk factors include: lack of physical activity, being overweight, and high blood pressure. Elevated blood-sugar is another. The more risks that are involved the greater our possibility of experiencing a heart attack. Our basic attitude is that it will never happen to us.

Some things that we can do are the following suggestions from the AARP Magazine, January and February 2010 Issue. Keep cholesterol in check either by diet or medication. Moderately exercise most of the days of the week. Lower your blood pressure. Control your weight. Stop smoking. Control your blood sugar.

Find up-to-date health care information. Visit your physician. Understand the disease process and its outcome if not given attention. Set your goals and stick with them. Face your feelings of anger, fear, depression or isolation. Live your life. Do not allow your illness to define you.

There is another kind of heart awareness. It is that of the spirit. Often the heart is referred to as the seat of the soul. Each person is responsible for its care. Many suffer from soul heart conditions. Others give themselves to regular spiritual activity.

Using the analogy, the buildup of disgust, anger, and hatred can choke the soul. Lack of regular soul attended activity, becoming weighted with self-indulgence, or being highly stressed with the problems and cares of this world, seeking sugar-coated spiritual connectedness, and crippling relationships contribute to hardness of heart.

We need to get a handle on the costs of ill soul health and take back our spiritual heritage. The risks are too great for us, our families, our neighborhoods and global humanity to neglect the important matters of the heart.

Seek out sound spiritual truth. Get involved in your community religious group.
Just as the heart receives returning blood, it cycles it back through the body. Spirituality is not just about us; it is about our neighbor. But it can’t be about our neighbor until we are spiritually healthy.

Refuse to become a soul heart fatality. Take charge of your spiritual life on a daily basis. Unclog your spiritual arteries. Exercise our spiritual heart center. Lower your stress pressure through positive inspirational affirmations. Put off those things that weigh you down. Stop habits that cripple your spiritual walk.

It is always appropriate to attend to the matters of the heart. Care not only for your physical heart but your spiritual heart. The old Proverb says “Keep your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flows the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

Resource: AARP Magazine, January and February 2010, Volume 53, Number 1C



Marcia Howland
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