1000-Word Excerpt

The heart is a wonderful and powerful guide to good health. If you eat, exercise, manage stress and otherwise live from the teachings and stirrings of your heartthat is, live heartfullyyou will be healthier and happier. Not only will you prevent heart disease, you will decrease your risk of diabetes, arthritis, cancer and other conditions associated with accelerated aging. Living from and for your heart will help you make better choices and promote a sense of wellness. It will help you on your journey to a more balanced life.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The majority of these deaths result from complications of atherosclerosis, the build-up of cholesterol and other material in plaques (or deposits) within the walls of arteries. New research suggests that atherosclerosis results from inflammation, excessive oxidative stress, insulin resistance and imbalances in our autonomic nervous system. As it turns out, how we liveour lifestyle choiceshave profound effects on these processes.

Living heartfully also means living in balance. Balance is more than just a metaphor for good health or a good life; it is the means to those ends. Heart health results from the balance of the various processes in the body that affect our hearts and blood vessels. Normal blood flow and vascular health is maintained when the dilating and constricting properties of arteries are balanced, when blood clot dissolving is matched by blood clot forming and when the scavenging properties of good cholesterol (HDL or high density lipoprotein cholesterol) balance the plaque-forming tendencies of bad cholesterol (LDL or low density lipoprotein cholesterol). Our bodies balance the metabolic products of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids to ensure healthy blood vessels. Whether we are attempting to equalize the influences of yin and yang or whether we are working to nurture the various aspects of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health, balance is essential.

Our revved up lifestyle is neither balanced nor heartful. We sleep too little, drive too much and we multi-task ourselves to death. Cellular telephones, laptop computers and pagers make an uninterrupted lunchtime a thing of the past. People eat fast food, use speed dial and race from place to place in order to get more done. Not only have these stresses reduced our ability to get essential things done, our emphasis on doing has eclipsed the all-important focus on being. And that is a matter of some concern since, after all, as pointed out by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, we are human beings, not human doings.

This book is dedicated to the premise that, by living heartfully, we can balance the various aspects of our lives in order to promote health. Our first stop along this journey is an assessment of how we are doing right now. The Life Balance Awareness helps you do just that and it provides ideas as to where you might want to focus your energies for positive change. The six categories explored in the Life Balance Awareness are:
* The Changing Cardiac Risk Factors
* Heartful Diet and Nutrition
* Fitness, Exercise and Movement
* Stress and Managing It
* Complementary Approaches
* Your Mental, Emotional & Spiritual Hearts

To understand how factors as diverse as diet and meditation, yoga and medication are part of a heartful life, its helpful to learn something about the heart in both health and illness. This book includes a description of the heart, how it works and what you may need to know now or in the future so you can discuss your heart with your physician(s) and other caregivers. Included in subsequent chapters are thought-provoking discussions about heart function at the level of the blood vessel and the signs and symptoms to look for that can help you detect or diagnose heart conditions. One chapter focuses on some of the aspects of heartful living and heart disease in women that are distinctly different from men.

The final chapter is a discussion of what each of us can do to live more heartfully with greater balance in our lives on every level. Learning to implement change successfullythat is, adopt and sustain new, positive, healthy behaviorsis the holy grail of attaining greater life balance and heartfulness. The results of the Life Balance Assessment will help you choose some attainable and measurable Small Steps for Change.

Achieving a heartful life balance is perhaps the most important journey you can take. So, how can you shape your journey?

Trust your heart. First of all, our road to a more heartful life should be guided by our own, individual wisdom. How will you know what is right for you? The answer is, youll just know. As you begin to hear your hearts inner voice, you will learn to place trust in its guidance.

Share your heart. Understand and accept what it means to be part of a community and be connected. Your family, your friends, your coworkersall are incredibly important to your health and well-being. Share your heart with them.

Take things to heart. Look at your life balance and your health objectively and carefully. But do so with compassion. When you show yourself compassion, you will have patience and openness that will make your journey more enjoyable and ultimately more successful.

Get to the heart of the matter. Focus on whats most important. Dont expect big things to happen immediately. It takes weeks to nurture a new behavior and months to make it a habit. Be practical and realistic.

Be lighthearted. Life is short and none of us can be sure what the future holds. Even though the journey to greater life balance and heartfulness will require some hard work, it should be fun. Relax and approach the journey with humor.

I look forward to sharing with you the journey to a more heartful and healthful life.