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If the heart is the center of the body and the brain rules all of the body’s organs including the heart, then how do I know if I feel love in my heart or in my brain? Granted, there is a mind-body connection, but how do these two organs communicate? 

It all started with a heart-shaped valentine.  This symbol is what I will give Phang to help me express my love for him.  If my head knows how I feel then how, I wondered, did that feeling get to my heart…or vice versa?

“I knew I was in love way before you knew,” Phang revealed.  “I just felt in balance and it felt right.”  

I feel in balance when I have completed a great hour’s workout or when we finish our three-mile walk with our dog, Mazik.  My Second Life has felt more in balance as Phang and I have created a world for ourselves.  There is an intuitive feeling of well-being and a physical feeling of calm and satisfaction.  How can I express this with a heart-shaped symbol in a valentine?

I think there is an energy that connects our brains and our hearts.  With positive emotions, freedom from stress, good nutrition and a nurturing environment, both organs communicate or pass energy to each other.  Still, that does not explain how the heart has come to be the symbol of love.

My heart has a brain and my brain has a heart, so why not incorporate both of these symbols to express the true nature of love?  To complete the picture, I would have to include the five senses:  seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and speaking.  

When you see your loved one, hear them speak, speak lovingly to them, touch them and kiss them, you receive those yummy senses … as exciting as that red foil wrapped heart-shaped hunk of chocolate.  To me, love is a pleasure for the senses.  It is a gift that can be delivered in any shape at all, but pleases every time.

The challenge will be to express all of this in a card with a red-shaped heart that looks a bit like my brain and my heart and conveys the delight to the senses as well.  Maybe it would be wise to just stick to the traditional heart-shaped symbol that we see on every Valentine’s Day card. 

Susanne Katz is the author of “A Woman’s Guide to Managing a Mid-Life Divorce,” the host of the radio program, “What Women Want Now” and a columnist for Atlanta Jewish News.  She is also a regular ShareWIK.com contributor.

For more Susanne Katz articles, click here.