My colleague Keith Coley (Chinese Medicine man himself) states that the human nervous system and biochemistry alone are too slow in function to handle the system wide orchestration and response to all stress. The heart field, the compressive waves, is the main coordinator. The heart beats in utero before our circulatory system even develops! It beats to coordinate the development of the body.

Hurt and pain are inevitable. Remember we talked about the FIELD our heart creates? According to heartmath.org, our heart field has the ability to encounter and perceive emotional pain from others before our brains respond. Which means our hearts are responding and reacting to the trauma of others without us really thinking about it. It can eventually create a neurological pain circuit within the heart, where any reminder of trauma will trigger that circuit and drain the heart of vital electrical energy-chi. The phrase “my heart just feels tired” comes to mind. It is a system wide effect. If the heart chi is low (the Heart Wall), the body can be susceptible to the constant hit of other people’s emotional information.

It is not saying that we do not help bear the burdens of others. This is different, we are talking about the unaware reception of pain and trauma of any other person that is in our environment. Eventually we can take on the RESPONSIBILITY for the traumatic information of others, make them our problem, and not even know it. This Responsibility can spread the protective field of the heart too thin, making it weak. Becoming aware of these responsibilities and making mindful boundaries will strengthen the wall.

PLEASE KNOW, this is not selfish behavior! Learning to become aware, set boundaries, strengthen the Heart Wall can only increase your compassion and capacity for others! I believe that it may be one of the only healthy ways to help yourself and others on the path to health.

Awareness + Boundaries = Strength