What kinds of things make you want to talk about having a heart? Does everyone do this?
Having a heart or showing one’s heart are common expressions that we sometimes use and hear. Everyone has an actual physical, beating heart in their chest, but when we make references to having one, it really has very little to do with the organ that pumps blood throughout parts of our body. But instead, it is usually referring to some kind of emotion or feeling.
The word croi is Irish for heart. We all have one, but not everyone uses it much. Many of us are uncomfortable talking about our heart because we think that this is a sacred place where no one needs to know what it might think and feel. However, having a heart doesn’t necessarily mean spilling all of your heart’s feelings and emotions. Instead, having a heart oftentimes means digging down deep into a part of yourself where we usually find traits like compassion and concern.
This is the phrase that we pair when we are talking about doctors or people who do very strenuous work and see the worst depths and the biggest miracles of life. Would you have the heart to do that? Well, some people can. Does it mean that they have to be heartless to do a good job? No, it just means that they have to actually use their hearts in a positive way in order to do great things.
We also can sometimes refer to the people we love as our hearts or a piece of our heart. I’m not sure where we decided to divide this muscle into portions in order to give a little bit to each person we care about. I tend to think that having a heart means using your entire heart, otherwise, it may not work as well in separate sections.
So, maybe in the past, I might have said things like; “I give a piece of my heart to someone” or “a part of my heart will always be with this particular individual.” I now realize that this wasn’t exactly factual. Maybe we say things like this so we can hold on to our heart because we fear giving it away in full might leave us with very little. The truth is that when you meet someone or something that pulls at your heart, it is actually pulling at the entire heart complete with opinions and beliefs. It is a value that we offer to another person that tells them that who they are or how they are effects us deeply in a place where only the strongest feelings can reach us.
