The Heart Official:  The President, Owner, and Creator

I heard a quote once about sports teams:  “The team is a reflection of the coach.”  The same rings true about a company, that it is a reflection of its owner/creator.  The concept for the company was once the “baby” of the owner, growing from a single budding idea.  The owner is what gives the company a soul.  The owner is the person who gets interviewed on the morning shows, gets their picture taken for the cover of a magazine, and gives the speech at the company picnic.  

The House of the Shen… It’s impossible to talk about the Heart without mentioning the Shen (soul).  In fact, when reading the Chinese characters for Heart, it reads as “an empty house for the Shen.”  During the day, the Shen spreads like a fire through the woods, and at night, it returns to the Heart where it settles for the night.

Unable to Settle into Sleep?  Bad Dreams?  These are signs that you’re Shen is not settling at night.  The Heart has become an unsuitable home for it.  Most likely because a trauma or series of traumas has created chaos in the Heart and it needs to be cleaned.  It could also be because the person feels guilty and needs to clear their conscious.  Imagine if a company was headed toward bankruptcy, the owner would panic, yes?  People may feel like they are “beside themselves” or some other description of feeling unsettled.    

Hearts can break…  We’ve all felt it before.  That special someone dumps you.  You didn’t get into your dream college.  These kinds of emotional injuries can leave you feeling like you’re on an emotional roller coaster.  Rejection is tough and creates that feeling like you’re soul is not at home.  What heals this?  Time mostly, but it doesn’t mean that other therapies can’t speed the process up.  We all need to digest what happened and put it into a context that allows us to move on.  The emotional outbursts, the terrible sleep, the scatter-brained feeling, all signs the heart has been broken and needs mending.  

The Heart is the most important organ in our body.  When the owner of the company gives that speech at the picnic, the entire company watches.  If the owner seems distracted or “off”, the employees will worry and performance will decrease.  Allow the Shen to settle and watch the whole system work better.