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Happy Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day is one of those holidays that has become woven into our mindset, hasn't it? According to a web site called The Holiday Spot, Saint Valentine was a Bishop near Rome in about the year 270 A.D. during a time when the reining Emperor Claudius-II had issued an edict forbidding marriage. The emperor had done this because he believed that married soldiers were too emotionally attached to their families and thus were poor warriors.According to church legend, upon seeing the trauma of young lovers who were not allowed to marry, Valentine began meeting them in a secret place to join them in the sacrament of matrimony. Claudius learned of this "friend of lovers," and had him arrested. The emperor was impressed with the young priest's dignity and conviction and attempted to convert him to the roman gods to save him from certain execution. Valentine refused to recognize Roman Gods, knowing the consequences fully; he was executed on February 24, 270.
Supposedly before he died Valentine used his spiritual powers to heal blindness in the daughter of a prison guard and before death he sent her a farewell note signed "from your Valentine." This signature has remained a part of the tradition of sending "Valentine" cards. Bishop Valentine eventually become a Patron Saint and the spiritual overseer of an annual festival that had young Roman men offering women they wished to court handwritten greetings of affection on February 14; these greeting cards acquired St.Valentine's name. The tradition of sending a Valentine's Day card spread with Christianity, and now it is celebrated all over the world.
According to the Greeting Card Association, approximately 1 billion Valentine greeting cards are sent each year, and 85% of them are sent by women. So although this tradition started out with men sending the cards, apparently women are more susceptible to the notion of a "Hallmark Holiday." If you're interested in reading more about Valentine's Day, Wikipedia has some really interesting information here.
So what does all this have to do with a blog that focuses on heart disease? Well, I've been thinking about how people react to the emotional side of having heart disease. It seems as though people get all tied up in the fact that having heart disease will affect someone's ability to love another person. It's as if love is a emotion of the heart, when I think it's really an emotion of the head.
Women especially seem to get twisted into this knot when their husbands develop heart disease. I remember a conversation with a wife of a cardiac rehab patient. She said, "He's so angry. I think his heart attack made him not love me anymore." When I asked what she meant, she said that it was "like his heart was broken" and she was afraid of hurting him more.
Now I was increasingly getting confused; was she talking about sex? She laughed and rolled her eyes, and said, "Well that too, but no, I mean that our emotions are a mess, and I think we're both angry and hurt and afraid."
Tough stuff to talk about, these emotions of the heart. Our hearts are all tied up in our physical, emotional, sexual, and spiritual health and to top it all off, we have a Hallmark Holiday telling us how we're supposed to feel about our partners. What if that isn't exactly how you feel? What if your partner is in the middle of a heart attack next week? I don't have any specific answers, I'm just interested in your thoughts on the subject. Please tell, what are your experiences with the emotions of the heart?
Love one another in the best way you can,
Laurie
There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.
Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, (1844-1900) "Reading and Writing"
So what does all this have to do with a blog that focuses on heart disease? Well, I've been thinking about how people react to the emotional side of having heart disease. It seems as though people get all tied up in the fact that having heart disease will affect someone's ability to love another person. It's as if love is a emotion of the heart, when I think it's really an emotion of the head.
Women especially seem to get twisted into this knot when their husbands develop heart disease. I remember a conversation with a wife of a cardiac rehab patient. She said, "He's so angry. I think his heart attack made him not love me anymore." When I asked what she meant, she said that it was "like his heart was broken" and she was afraid of hurting him more.
Now I was increasingly getting confused; was she talking about sex? She laughed and rolled her eyes, and said, "Well that too, but no, I mean that our emotions are a mess, and I think we're both angry and hurt and afraid."
Tough stuff to talk about, these emotions of the heart. Our hearts are all tied up in our physical, emotional, sexual, and spiritual health and to top it all off, we have a Hallmark Holiday telling us how we're supposed to feel about our partners. What if that isn't exactly how you feel? What if your partner is in the middle of a heart attack next week? I don't have any specific answers, I'm just interested in your thoughts on the subject. Please tell, what are your experiences with the emotions of the heart?
Love one another in the best way you can,
Laurie
There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.
Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, (1844-1900) "Reading and Writing"
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Technorati Tags: emotions, heart disease, Valentine's Day
Labels: emotions, heart disease, Valentine's Day
