Heart of the Matter

A beating heart.
The center of love. 
The center of life.

Our hearts beat about 100,000 times each day.   
How many of these beats can you account for? 
How many heartbeats did you really feel?
No, I don't mean laying your finger against
your wrist or neck; not 'checking' your pulse. 

I mean, how many of those beats did you make count today? 

Passion.  Our hearts are the 'heart' of our life power.
Hearts pumping and supplying
every cell with oxygen.
It's up to us to bring life to our moments,
as many moments each day as possible.  Passion.

When my body was aching and healing,
I had lots of time to think about what
I was going to do with this second chance
I had been gifted.

It was time to start living from my heart. 
Seeing the passion of the day:  A maple tree
with scarlet leaves. 
Tasting the passion of the day: A glass of merlot. 
Rejoicing in the passion of the day: An hour
at the gym. Helping a patient at work.
Running in the rain. 

It may all sound cliche, but before we know it,
a whole lotta 100,000 beats are going to fly by.

This week brought a new passion and
challenge - bootcamp. 
There was a time, just a few years ago, when I could
barely walk up the stairs in my home. 
Chemotherapy was zapping the nasty cancer cells and my good cells.
Now I'm mastering the army-crawl, pushing a football tackle dummy and running laps.
What a difference a few 100,000 beats makes.

This week I had the pleasure of meeting a hospice volunteer from a nearby city. 
She just happened to be eating lunch in the hospital cafeteria, at the table right next to me.
Hmmm, fate or coincidence? 
Or maybe a new passion?

Close your eyes.  Be still.
Listen to your heart beat.
That's passion.