It’s the beat of war drums ushering you on to fight for your freedom. The heart is your weapon, and with it, anything is possible.
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The heart is a man’s strongest muscle. It lifts worlds without ever hitting the gym. It never need to press or curl, lunge or hurl— the heart resides within.
When your wife is pregnant and you lose your job through an unexpected company-wide lay-off. When you’re running out of money and all hope seems lost— the heart speaks. When you wake up and spend your days applying to jobs just to find a way to make ends meet— that is your muscle flexing. It expands to take in the fresh oxygen rich blood that the world has given you, and it contracts to flood your mind with newness. You are renewed. The heart is man’s strongest muscle.
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When someone you love is taken from you. When they fade from this world and you are left only with their memory and this deep, sickening ache in your chest. When the days grow long and the nights grow colder and your find it harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning— the heart listens. It know your pain and it feels it; but, it also knows how to heal you. It beats. A steady thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump. It reminds us that life goes on. It’s going on right now while we are in agony. The heart hammers away. It is a rhythm to live by. If we listen, it will pick us up out of bed and push us to live. The heart is man’s strongest muscle.
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When you fail in an endeavor. When your efforts fall short and you disappoint yourself and the ones you love. When it feels like the room is shrinking and the walls are crashing in around you— the heart works harder. It pumps more oxygen to clean out your bad thoughts. You are not hopeless and worthless. You are merely taking part in the struggle that is life, finding your way to success through failure. The struggle brings us enlightenment, and the heart knows this. It finds a youthful exuberance and floors you with it to remind you, that “You are alright. You are going to make it.” The heart is man’s strongest muscle.
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When something goes wrong and the future you had planned can no longer be. If your dream house is snatched away, or if your husband loses a limb in a tragic accident. If your car is stolen, or if your child is born with a severe mental illness. When something goes wrong and you are filled with frustration at life. When your heart is heavy and slamming on your chest like a thousand furious Spartans on the gates to Olympus. When it feels hopeless and all you want is to go back to when things were OK— the heart comforts you. It is there, constantly keeping you alive. It is a steady reminder that all things come back around. That everything IS ok, if we only believe that. The heart reminds us that all we have is here and now, so make the best of it while we can. The heart is man’s strongest muscle.
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When chains bind us and our freedom is but a dream. When the systems we have falling into or the group we have become part of or the relationships that we have chosen become like prisons. When what was once a comfort now feels like an inescapable confinement— the heart fights back. It flexes in all its glory. From every situation that is has had to save you in in the past, here and now it rips apart chains like paper. It’s the beat of war drums ushering you on to fight for your freedom. The heart is your weapon and with it, anything is possible. The heart is man’s strongest muscle.
◊♦◊
When the heart fails. When it’s tired and weak. When the world falls on your shoulders like ten million tons of granite, a weight that would turn you into mush an any other day. When you can’t find hope or happiness, love or light. When the darkness is all you know, and within it you reside. Unable to eat. Unable to sleep. Unable to exist without pain or struggle. When you are enveloped by the darkness, and you have almost become it— the heart chooses to live. Even when you are at the bottom and cannot move, it continues to beat. Like a track on repeat. It only stops when we are dead. Until then, it will fight for its life to save you from the dark. It is the light you need. It may feel shattered and weak, bludgeoned and broken, but I can assure you— it is the strongest muscle a man has.
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A good man knows, that in order to survive life and come out a champion,
he must rely
on his Heart.
—
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
-Langston Hughes
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Photo:Flickr/Chris