Blame It on Your Heart

I write a few poems, but not as many as some folks on Vocal. Most of my poems have to do with love. Either the desire for it, the tragedy of when it doesn’t work, or dealing with feelings of love. I am a big softie at heart, I guess!

And there we have it. We blame everything to do with love on our hearts. We talk about “loving you with all my heart” and “you will break my heart.” All our love and emotions seem to be directed at our hearts. We blame everything good or bad on our hearts.

The reality is our hearts have nothing to do with how we feel. All our feelings begin in the brain. Yes, emotions and love do appear to live in the heart, or at least that is how it seems. When we feel love or strong emotions, our central nervous system releases hormones. These hormones enter the bloodstream and impact our heartbeat.

It just would not be the same if we said, “I love you, write in my brain,” or "you have broken my brain!”

So, where did this whole heart thing start?

Ancient cultures believed it was the centre of emotion. Early Greek examples associated love with the heart in lyrical poetry. The poet Sappho agonised over her broken heart as a “mad heart that was quaking with love.” She lived on Lesbos, with female disciples around her. She wrote passionate poems, now lost except for fragments, like this one:

“Love shook my heart, like the wind on the mountain troubling the oak trees."

Not to be outdone, ancient Romans had Venus, the goddess of love. She was credited—or blamed—for igniting passions with the help of her son, Cupid. His darts, aimed at the heart, were always powerful. Cupid is commonly seen shooting arrows into lovers' hearts.

They thought the heart was the centre of all emotions. They believed in a special vein called the vena amoris. It was thought to run from the heart to the fourth finger on the right hand.

If that sounds familiar, it should. This is known as the ring finger in modern cultures, where we place a gold band or another symbol of love.

Strong feelings like love trigger physical reactions. You might feel your heart race or blush. These sensations often wash over your chest. Great minds like Aristotle and Plato furthered this idea. Poets like Shakespeare have continued to promote the concept throughout time.

The heart now symbolises passion, life, and romance.

The real heart actually looks nothing like the symbols used for love. We see the familiar symbol everywhere — in text messages, signs, cakes, clothing, and more. The heart icon underwent a huge transformation in 1977, when the “I love NY” logo was created.

Milton Glaser designed the famous logo to lift city morale. At that time, crime was rampant, trash filled the streets, and the city teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. It was also used to boost tourism.

In 1999, a Japanese provider introduced the first heart-shaped emojis for mobile phones. Now there are more than 30 different heart-based emojis.

The brain doesn’t create the same visual impact as the heart. So, it’s likely better that it evolved this way. It's a better symbol of love and passion than body parts, but let's not go there.

Till next time,

Calvin