Wednesday Wisdom – “Righting Your Heart”

I have been sort of watching (in my “watching way” of leaving shows on while I am doing other things) this Netflix Anime called ピアノの森. It’s a little goofy (the attempts at getting the “animation” of piano playing is VERY computerized, if that is a “proper” description), but there was just an interesting line that caused me to stop and think –

“[Playing the piano] it’s time spent righting your heart…. It’s the most important time of all!” (very roughly translated, but most of these are!)

It really doesn’t matter if your “righting your heart” comes from playing the piano or composing songs or whatever it is that helps you accomplish such a thing. But recognizing the absolute importance of “righting your heart” is absolutely true. When we hold resentments, self-victimize, think we “deserve” better, become jealous of others or compare ourselves with others, &c., we are not “right” in our hearts – we have gotten off our own courses in life somewhere along the line. Finding something – whether it be playing an instrument or writing or traveling or just sitting in a quiet room meditating – in order to “re-center” yourself and “right your heart” really is the most important thing we can do. And since all we really are “given” by the Universe (or God, &c.) IS time, it is important that we use some of that time both to “right our hearts” and to follow our passions / loves and bring that peace and joy to others.

I have never heard the expression “righting your heart” before, but I really like it (again, roughly translated and quoted from the subs!). Those of us who face chronic illness and likewise struggle with all the challenges it throws at us know what it is like to feel like we are so far off / away from “our paths” in life. Chronic illness is sneaky in that often the most severe difficulties of chronic illness (most chronic illnesses, at any rate) arise not from the symptoms of the conditions we deal with but the RESULTING ways it takes things from us when we are too sick to notice. To me, THAT is the “real” insidious nature of chronic illness. And if you think about having everything you have worked for taken from you, if you have lost friends and partners and educations and jobs, &c. &c. &c., over years and years, it is only “natural” for our hearts to become “dark.” I think the time we use to recover just from those “secondary” effects of chronic illness – how we manage to maintain hope and to continue to be kind and giving, &c. – is, very much, the “most important time of all.”

I hope you are all having a happy and healthy day, wherever you are in the world! I hope anyone who has suffered for years (decades) with chronic illness like I have have learned that giving in to despair and feeling badly for yourself is not a good place to be. It is incredibly difficult to move from a position of “missing time” to moving forward, one foot at a time, but it is something I must do and something all of us facing chronic illness must do – even if that only means making others smile whenever they are around you. As I have said here many times before, you NEVER know what other people are going through; if you work to be or stay “right in your heart,” the hope and joy you will emanate will be noticed, I promise! And I also promise that living in that “heart space” of giving and peace is ALWAYS better than living in any kind of “lack,” no matter how much you have lost and no matter how much has been taken from you.

Thanks much for reading and I will be back soon soon soon!

❤ Always, Beth