Heart Coherence

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Proverbs 4:23

I’ve been thinking lately about the heart, how it has its own, independent nervous system, often called the “heart brain”, comprising tens of thousands of neurons that can operate independently. Our hearts produce an electrical and magnetic field that is significantly stronger than anywhere else in the body, impacting not only us but those around us. The human heart sends more signals to the cranial brain than it receives, influencing perceptions, emotions, memories, thoughts, and actions. Modern science supports ancient wisdom: everything we do does indeed flow from our hearts!

“Heart coherence” is the state of being aligned emotionally, mentally, and physically. We know that positive emotions like gratitude, kindness, love, and compassion create a state of heart coherence that reduces stress, strengthens physical resilience, helps us think more clearly, uplifts relationships, and enhances effectiveness. Above all else, for the living of these days, we need heart coherence.

I find it to be a daily, some days difficult, discipline to guard my heart. These are questions I ask myself regularly: How well am I guarding my heart? Are my intrapersonal boundaries healthy, protecting what I let inside? Are my relationships nourishing my heart, or do they drain me? Am I practicing gratitude, kindness, love, and compassion, or am I focused more on the darkness of the world? What do I need to change, so that my heart can be in coherence?

Loving God, heart of the universe, guide us into heart coherence, that we might be peace, and wage peace, and love one another…every single other.  Amen.

Roxanne is a member of Peace Church who finds that her heart coherence is strengthened by like-minded community and is deeply grateful for this one.