What Happens When Our Hearts Feel Worn Out?

Spring has arisen with great warmth this year. It brings with it a rising energy of growth and exploration. A sense of calling into action that can also carry with it the strains of our culture. The strain of caring for ourselves, our families, our communities and our world in a time of turmoil. It can be exhausting with all the divisive drama and trauma going on around us. Even if we are not directly involved, our interactions feed into the exhaustion. It can almost feel like caring about anything is exhausting. It takes deep practice in non-attachment to not fall into the patterns of fatigue rampant in our world. A fatigue often connected through our hearts that can be described as heart fatigue. A fatigue that largely arises when the heart feels disconnected from the guidance and wisdom it needs to meet a sense of calling. A myriad of hopes and desires spiraling within the heart that can be felt without a clear sense of how to meet them. Hopes and desires often born of anxiety, worry, frustration and unresolved sadness. 

This type of fatigue is in many ways distinctly different from body or mind fatigue. While inter-related, it is the heart’s unmet need to be connected with inner wisdom that exhausts the mind and body. Not the other way round. It is why the Language of the Soul exists. To help us consciously experience that we are all wise within. To remember that the heart can surrender into the warm embrace of inner wisdom and find ease and joy. A whispering wise voice that emanates from the stillness of our being, allowing the rising energy of Spring to be engaged with both clarity and ease. These are the Rites of Spring, expressed within us when we both listen deeply and act upon the clarity of our own wisdom. A Rite in this way leaves its ceremonial expression in dogma and doctrine and enters into a deeper relationship within us as a moment-to-moment celebration of soulful purpose. An effective way to navigate the turmoil and division going on around us. To know our role in any given situation in part by learning to recognize and let go of those facets that are not ours to carry. While grieving such moments may not be easy it is far better to have the clarity and ease of knowing our role in these moments. To create new possibilities, from a beginners perspective, on what is actually ours to sort through. To recognize what sometimes is habitually projected back and forth between ourselves and those we care for. In short, I am speaking of the practice of non-attachment. 

It is also in the recognition that a life well-lived explores these issues with deep care and discernment. William Faulkner, from the perspective of being a writer, said that “the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself." As a journaler of my own experience I find this notion to carry great truth. Journaling not in the sense of keeping a daily record but rather as a practice in writing into the voices within. Voices that can, at times, exist in conflict. When we journal, we embrace these voices. Inevitably, in practice with the journaling, wisdom arises, allowing the whispering voice beneath the conflict to be heard with clarity and ease.  

In the midst of heart fatigue we can become vulnerable to Heart Trauma. An emotional piercing of the heart that can be extremely debilitating when the heart is already overwhelmed and exhausted. A state of trauma that can affect us profoundly in its impact on our entire being, body, mind and spirit. With Heart Fatigue proliferating in our world, Heart Trauma has also radically increased in our lives. So much so that our mental health support system is now facing an epidemic of mental health challenges arising largely from exhaustion. An enigmatic exhaustion born of the inability in our culture to be restful, affecting everyone from school children through the elderly.  

What helps with Heart Fatigue and Heart Trauma?

To relieve the heart of its fatigue… first and foremost… it needs rest and it needs expression. Begin by quieting the mind (meditation, a long quiet walk). so the heart can be acknowledged and heard. Then give yourself space to journal, to sing, to scream, to dance… to give the heart its needed inner stage for expression. There are many resources shared in both the book and course, Language of the Soul, that provide outlets with practices designed to support the heart weary/wounded human being. In doing so we reinvigorate in chinese medicine what we call the Heart Protector. The imagery being that of a set of gates protecting the heart from harm. The role of the gates is neither to be opened or closed but to be well-oiled so as to open or close as the need arises. These gates need us to be both well-rested and present in order to function well. Which brings us then to the potential role that Acupuncture and herbal support, in conjunction with inner practice, can provide potent support for individuals suffering with Heart Fatigue and Heart Trauma. In more acute cases, one should reach out to mental health resources available to you based on your comfort and calling. Due to the stigmas many feel around asking for mental health support, I encourage folks to reach out to health practitioners with whom they feel safe. That includes me. Call me and we can talk about what resources may serve you or a loved one. In truly emergent moments where hope feels lost, here are some resources:

Maryland Crisis Hotline - 1-800-422-0009

SAMHSA’s National Helpline - 1-800-HELP (4357)

National Suicide Hotline - 988

"The problem in most situations is not a lack of calling; but a fear of responding to the call.” Michael Meade