couer

when I was gifted with it last spring, I named my new bike couer, the french word for heart.
this morning while I was riding in a wicked-lovely pre-storm wind, which fought me on the way out and pushed me all the way home, I kept thinking about that name.
I'm all about heart.  about love, compassion, connecting, empathy, deep heart-to-heart relating.
and it seems like life has given me both great opportunities for this and in-my-face walls preventing it.  and I think---I believe---it's my job to learn from both kinds of experiences.  it's my life journey to follow a path full of heart, and to learn to handle what happens when that's denied.

this morning I thought about my bike.  it's a beautiful bike, a fabulous bike, one that looks sleek and performs incredibly well and takes everything that's thrown at it: wind, dirt, grime, sleet, potholes, cracks and bumps and jarring changes in pavement surface.  it also receives caresses, cleaning, lubricants, and some good rub-downs.  but more often than not it gives a lot more than it receives.

sometimes this happens to real hearts, too.

the amazing thing is that we---like my bike, couer---carry on.  we give, we ache, we hurt, we revive, we become stronger, we love.  again.
however, it does---like a bike---take upkeep, attention.  cleaning, lube, a new chain now and again.  a new tire, a tune-up at the shop.
for the human heart, attention, cleansing, new education--awarenesses--instruction, time, space, tenderness.  

hearts are precious and vital.  and they will do their job for a long, long time if we take care of them.  ask a cardiologist:  the human heart, given proper attention, can last a century or so.  ask a therapist:  the human heart, given proper attention, can survive any experience thrown at it.

couer has given me a year's worth of rides so far.
my human couer has given me five decades worth of experience so far.....
and I plan to keep taking care of both of them, whatever comes our way.