Dear Heart, I’m writing you a letter…

Dear Heart,

I’m glad you and Brain are getting along better these days, and not fighting each other. Granted, I think Brain may have been more at fault than you for most of it – around here, Brain is used to being the boss, and likes to run the show. She hasn’t always trusted you to know what you’re doing. The thing about Brain, though, is that she has been right enough of the time that she tends to believe she’s always going to be right. But that’s not exactly true, and I get the feeling she’s learned to listen to you more. Teamwork seems like it’s good for both of you.

About ten years ago, though, you knew things weren’t right. You weren’t happy, and you felt like we weren’t where we should be. Brain kept working on you, though – either trying to convince you that you were wrong, or to get you to accept that this was just the way things were. After all, didn’t most people just go through the motions, and who was really happy, anyway? Well, when you finally got that direct hit and none of us could deny it any more, Brain’s interventions probably just made it worse. (Sometimes Brain just needs to shut up.) Perhaps if Brain had stepped back and let you take care of things, you might have healed faster. That long convalescence was tough on all of us, butyou did have to go through that healing process, and do some deferred growing up. You took some hard blows – even though you’d sensed they were coming, that didn’t make them hurt less – but they didn’t put you out of commission for good. There were times when Brain seemed to think they should, and it felt easier for you to just go along, but in the end I’m glad you hung on.

It’s good to find you doing well these days. Of course, one big reason for that is that you have found another heart that complements you so nicely – now, it feels like we truly are in the right place. You’ve grown more confident and more open, and maybe that’s why Brain seems to pay more attention to you. She is less likely to shrug you off, and you’re both better about keeping each other’s excesses in check.

Brain seems to do better with you as a co-pilot, Heart. I’ll do my best to ensure your continued successful working relationship. Thanks for everything.

Love,
me

This post is part of BlogHer‘s “Letter to My Heart” Valentine’s Day initiative.

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15 comments

  1. Serena – Thanks :-). I waffled about participating in this, but I’m glad I did.

    Teresa – Thanks for your e-mail letting me know that you’re the “anonymous” commenter :-).

    I think we’re in sync – better than we used to be, at any rate. We keep working on it :-).

  2. What a nice letter! Of course, it reads better after I realized I read the “name” wrong. I thought it said “Brian”, Brain makes more sense. 🙂

  3. Siren – Thanks. It’s taken some time to sort it out, but better late than never.

    Mike – Thanks. I had to re-read it now and make sure I actually did type “Brain” instead of “Brian” every time 🙂

    Patois – I’m pretty happy with where the heart is now myself :-).

  4. Thank you for sharing your letter to your heart with us. It was such a thoughtful post. My own heart and brain haven’t always had the same objective in mind, and so I can relate. It’s good when they work well together though!

  5. Wendy (Literary Feline) – I would never have thought of a post like this on my own, so I’m glad that BlogHer put the idea out there, and I’m very glad that readers have enjoyed my take on the topic :-).