The Heart Feeds Itself First
TL;DR - right before your blood goes all around your body, enriched by oxygen it picked up on its trip to the lungs, the first exit ramp are coronary arteries - those are, the vessels that supply your heart muscle. What can we learn from the heart's design to feed itself first?
When you take a deep breath in, your lungs expand and your blood has an opportunity to let go of what is no longer needed - the residue of cellular processes, CO2 - and to take on Oxygen, the essential molecule for all of our cellular processes. The blood is moved into and out of the lungs by the heart. The story you know is that the heart takes that oxygen-rich blood and pumps it throughout our body*, attempting to reach every cell we have to deliver this essential package. What you may not know, is that the first place that receives this oxygen-rich blood is the heart, itself. That's right. Via the coronary arteries, the heart feeds itself first. Your heart ensures that it has all that it needs as a first order of business.
The heart beats roughly 100,000 times a day, 35 million times in a year. It's happening all the time, even now, while you are skimming this article. How does the heart work like this, without 'burnout'? One reason is that the heart rests just as often as it beats. Beat - Rest - Beat - Rest. I remember my grandmother would work on a project for a while, and then she would sit down and tell me, now it's time to have a rest, taking 15 minutes to an hour to recuperate. When I am working too long without a break, I hear her whispering to my own heart, rest. Now its time to rest.
Alongside rest, as we discussed above, the heart feeds itself first. This is what we mean by self-love. We love ourselves enough to ensure we have what we need, to rest, to eat, to care for ourselves. When we can treat ourselves with the same love and respect that we may show others, this is self-love. In 'western' culture**, we have a story about martyrdom - we sacrifice our wellbeing to show care for others, we suffer to show our commitment and sacrifice. But, what if we didn't put ourselves last on our own to-do list, and instead put ourselves first? How could the renewed care and life we offer to ourselves in fact be better for those around us?
Invitations/Questions to consider any of the following:
● Where are the places in your life where you could shift to putting yourself first? Consider the projects you have going on. Is there a place within the project you could give to yourself first, before giving to others? For example, instead of explaining some inconsequential misunderstanding, can you redirect that energy for your own peace and ease? Ask yourself, do you need to explain? What would my heart do?
● What does a workday become when you remind yourself before attending to others or your tasks, to feed yourself first? To offer yourself love, gratitude, or appreciation? To give yourself what maybe you have been hoping for from others? Or to give yourself literal food, or water?
● Ask yourself, "Have I passed what I am about to do or say by my own heart first? Can I honor myself as the first, most important recipient of this message?"
● Ask yourself, "What am I needing in this moment? And can I offer it to myself first?"
*The heart as a pump pushing all the blood around our bodies is a simplified version; in fact, the arteries also help move blood, as they are muscularized, and the spin/flow of the blood itself in a vortex fashion also is essential for the efficient movement of blood.
**To listen to a fascinating lecture on the false division between East and West - a story that met the colonial projects of the era - YOUTUBE "How Islam saved Western Civilization" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8M4i9fvq1M. Also Edward Said's "Orientalism" is a great resource.