We ❤ Loveland.
Located an hour’s drive north of Denver, Loveland is home to our corporate headquarters.
We feel especially connected to Loveland when Valentine’s Day rolls around. Loveland is home to the largest re-mailing program in the country—more than 120,000 requests are mailed every year seeking the word “Loveland” stamped on a Valentine’s Day card and then sent, finally, to loved ones.
That’s a whole lotta love!
Loveland makes a very big deal out Valentine’s Day, in fact, including a whole Sweetheart Festival.
Love & the heart go together.
But why?
Historians have dug into this whole topic. There’s even a whole Ted Talk on this topic. Ancient Greek philosophers argued that the heart was linked to our strongest emotions, including love.
One thing for sure that’s strange is that the ❤ shape bears no resemblance at all to the actual thing, which is about the size of a fist, more of a cone shape in general, and contains no such notch at the top. The heart muscle is certainly not a portrait of perfect symmetry.
There are plenty of mysteries around the heart’s preferences—in terms of relationships, dating, marriage, and so on. We’ll leave that analysis to advice columnists, therapists, and fortune tellers (not that we lump all three together in the same boat).
But it turns out there is plenty of scientific work looking into the brain-heart connection.
This very recent (January 2020) article looked at the connections. Turns out that researchers at the HeartMath Institute have been working—for 25 years—to achieve what they call “measurable heart/brain coherence.”
The folks at HeartMath have published over 300 peer-reviewed or independent studies of their techniques and technologies.
Rollin McCraty, one of the original founders of HeartMath, says “the biggest hidden source of stress on the planet is the disorganization of heart/mind, causing lack of resonance. “Lack of alignment eats the life force and happiness out of humanity,” he says.
HeartMath researchers assert there is a “knowing” function to the heart.
Who is to argue? Not us.
The HeartMath folks point out that in Western societies we often view the brain as “senior” to the heart. The brain as boss.
Or is it?
Scientists have found that the heart contains 40,000 neurons of its own that can sense, feel, learn, and remember. A little mini “heart” brain!
The folks at HeartMath believe there are things you can do to achieve “coherence.”
There are four keywords for coherence: appreciation, gratitude, care, and compassion.
“When we practice moving into states aligned with one of these words, or some combination of the four, we create communication between the heart and the brain. This practice takes about three days to establish new neural network habit patterns supporting the heart/brain connection and communication.”
Sounds like a good formula to us!
We all know what we need in this world.
More sensitivity.
More kindness.
More friends.
More empathy.
More support.
In short, more ❤.
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