Listening to the Heart

The tell-tale heart was a classic story written by Edgar Allan Poe. It may be a forgotten account today but the lessons of that story may well be remembered, the major one being that the heart also talks, only someone must have the ears to listen to it. Blaise Pascal, famous Philosopher has put it rather poetically when he says “heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.” What the French philosopher wants to say is that rationality of the heart is superior to the rationality of the mind when it comes to an either or situation. But that is more a subject of an academic debate. The fact is that the heart also has it language and if heard it makes a lot of sense. People tend to ignore this out of sheer callousness, perhaps due to the false notion of supremacy of the ego. But that apart, the question of why listening to the heart has become important assumes significance because the medical science is now trying to pay more attention to the language of the heart. The growing concern about the rise in the incidence of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) has made the medical fraternity look at the heart from a different angle. And it is now realised why it is important for people to listen to the heart. The practice up to now was that the doctors were listening to the patients’ hearts and coming to conclusions. But recent advances in cardiology suggest that if people develop the ability to listen to the heart they may well nigh avoid becoming a patients and going to the doctor. In some of the recent issues of internationally reputed research journals of cardiology, the emphasis is now more on life style rather the pathology In most cases it is the life style that leads to pathology and in many of such cases changes in the life style may even reverse the pathology.
For a country like India increasing awareness about dangers of faulty lifestyle is even more important given the increased vulnerability of the people to CHDs and the rising cost of cardio-care, which in a large number of cases is out of bounds of the ordinary mortals. Whether Indian hearts have basic structural weakness or not may be open to debate, but the cost part of cardio-care is certainly prohibitive. And the fact remains that healthy heart is a precondition to healthy and long life. If that be so then more than the doctor’s stethoscope, it is your own ears that may provide vital information regarding your heart. The only trick lies in paying attention to it, that is listening to the murmurs closely, attentively. let your heart determine the life style rather than the mind. Life styles are more driven by thoughts than acts.
However, in order to listen to the heart we need to understand the heart first. What does it want? Well, contrary to what is popularly assumed, the heart doesn’t want much. It simply wants to remain happy and peaceful. But how to attain this state is the big question. The simplest prescription is don’t burden it with to many desires. Nor bruise it with guilt or flog it with shame. A very interesting yet useful formula was given by a popular 1994 bollywood number from Prabhu Deva starrer Humse Hai Muqabala. The song was Urvashi, Urvashi, Take It Easy, Urvashi. Ungali Jaisi Dubli Ko,Nahin Chahiye Pharmacy. Jeet Ka Mantra Hai, Take It Easy Policy.