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Having spent so many years working on Cardiac Care Units and lost close family members to sudden heart attacks, I know the devastating effects that heart disease can lead to. So many lives are ripped apart each year through the failure to understand and diagnose the early warning signs.

A heart attack is the result of your head not understanding the everyday messages of your heart.

Your heart is not just the muscle that pumps blood around your body, keeping you alive, it is also the centre of your emotional intelligence. The energy of the heart manifests through your emotions (energy in motion).

Allowing this energy to run and taking the time to feel what is going on in your body, without judgment, is the way that your heart likes to interact with your head. However, because emotional intelligence is not taught at school and so much emphasis is placed on intellectual intelligence, millions of people die prematurely every year from heart attacks.

The facts speak for themselves.

According to cardiacmatters.co.uk facts and figures someone dies from a heart attack in the UK every 6 minutes. In the US this figure is nearer 1 person every minute. Of the 146,000 people who have a heart attack in the UK every year, 94,000 of them die. On top of this, 179 people in the UK lose a parent every day because of a fatal heart attack.

The symptoms usually start many years before a heart attack.

I have spent many years speaking to people who had just had a heart attack and there are many common themes. Although there are some people who do not experience some of the following symptoms, everyone who has a heart attack experience over half of the following….

- Feeling stuck in a job or relationship for an extended period of time
- At least one, sometimes more, very poor family relationship(s)
- Low motivation for an extended period
- Not wanting to get out of bed
- High stress for a sustained duration
- A need to please others before themselves
- Feeling misunderstood or unappreciated
- Always compromising – and feeling resentful about it
- Increasing aches and pains in their body
- Short, stabbing pains in their chest, sometimes only lasting a fraction of a second
- An emptiness or feeling that something is missing – and no idea what it is

These are just some of the warning signs.

Knowing that all of these things happen when the IQ of your brain overrules the IQ of your heart on a consistent basis can help you to identify the early warning signs of heart disease. When your head starts judging emotions and making them good or bad, your emotions can get repressed and your heart cannot function properly. This is the foundation of heart dis-ease.

The good news is that heart dis-ease can be reversed if it is caught early enough.

In order to reverse the symptoms you must first become proficient at identifying them. Do you trust your feelings? Start by becoming aware of the early warning signs and asking yourself one simple question: “Would I or the people I love benefit from me learning to identify the early warning signs of heart disease?”

When the answer is yes then there are resources available to help when you leave your name and e-mail on our home page

When my bag was stolen on Saturday night, along with my video camera, personal items, money and coat, I was tested.

The day had started so well. I’d been to a wonderful event; Living a Charmed Life by Art Giser. I had needed my video camera to do some filming there. As I was in central London I did not have the chance to go home before meeting a few friends for a birthday celebration at a bar/restaurant near Kings Cross.

Being a trusting individual I put my bag, which was pretty bulky, very near to where I was standing and proceeded to enjoy a good evening out. A few hours later when I went to leave, my bag had disappeared. Noting my shock a nearby barman went to check whether anything had been handed in. When he returned to say that nothing had been, my heart dropped. Apart from over £600+ worth of equipment, several personal items had been lost.

For a few long seconds I was feeling that my life was less than charmed.

I did my best to remain positive, yet there was an unerring sense of disappointment – both in myself for not being more careful and in the person who had taken it for momentarily diminishing my faith in humanity. As I stood on my own, composing myself to live all of my own teachings about good coming from every challenge, I found myself severely challenged.

Then an angel arrived.

A young lady, noting my concern walked up to me and asked if the bag that had been where I left it was mine. I told her it was. She then pointed to one of the bouncers and told me that she had seen him taking it. I was very grateful and my faith in humanity was instantly restored.

When I approached the bouncer and told him that I had lost a bag and asked him if he knew where it was, he told me that he did not. He appeared certain that he had no idea what I was talking about. I then suggested that he may not have remembered picking up the bag that was by the table but  I was glad that he had because it saved it from being stolen by someone. I subtly mentioning that he had been seen in the act. I knew that accusing him of lying would probably not be the best way to get my bag back and I offered him a way to give me back my bag and save face.

He admitted nothing, sending me over to talk to another bouncer who would be able to help me.

I walked across the venue to the other bouncer and it was clear that his energy was less than warm as I informed him that I had been told that he may know where my bag was. He glanced a look at the other bouncer before staring at me for a few seconds, saying nothing. Eventually, he just told me to wait where I was. He then went over to talk to the other bouncer before coming back and telling me to wait for the manager. At this stage neither man acknowledged even seeing my bag, let alone picking it up.

A few minutes later the manager arrived.

I explained that my bag had gone missing and that the diligent bouncers had been kind enough to hand it in to keep it safe. I strongly suspected that this was not the case but did not care as long as my bag was returned. The manager went to look for it and eventually returned my bag, letting me know that thieves have been known to operate in the bar and that they cannot be too careful.

I took my bag and the lesson, thanking the manager and both bouncers before leaving. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to properly thank or reward the angel who stepped in to let me know the fate of my bag at a stage where I had given it up as lost forever. To her I dedicate this posting.

In life, there are people who will take things away, thinking nothing of it, and those who give, without expecting anything in return. Both exist and it is a choice of who I choose to focus more on. I could have left that bar/restaurant feeling any number of emotions on Saturday night but I chose to be in gratitude. Ultimately, if the bouncers had not played their part, I would never have been gifted by the blessing of this incident.

Whilst I will not be returning to the venue involved again, I am very grateful that it provided the highlight of my weekend, proving that I am living a charmed life, even if it was through a roller coaster ride of emotion. I am also very grateful to EVERYONE involved in this brief, emotional roller coaster that led me to this realisation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNXYzJd5w0g

Every now and again I get accused of being insensitive or out of touch with reality. Usually, I just let it go but I now realise that others suffer as a result of the judgment of others, who often do not understand the bigger picture of a situation. To those who have faced such judgment, I offer a personal account…..

Life can be challenging at times.

During 3 years of training as a student nurse there was always someone around who was more experienced and knowledgeable than me. I always felt safe because of this. After 3 weeks of being qualified, I was working on a busy medical ward. When the two senior nurses decided to go for a morning coffee break together and leave the ward I was faced with my first instance ever of being the most senior nurse on a ward.

Phones were ringing, patients were demanding my attention, people needed washing, drugs needed to be administered, relatives and doctors were demanding updates on patients that I had not even met and porters were arriving to take patients away for tests that had been ordered, without even letting me know.

This was my life as a newly qualified nurse.

I felt under-qualified, unready and very apprehensive at this prospect. When a cleaner strolled over to me and informed me that there was a patient on the toilet who didn’t look too well, I went straight to the cubicle. What I found will stay with me until the day I die.

There was a patient dead on the toilet. And it wasn’t Elvis.

Unless you have been in this situation, it is difficult to describe what happened next. It started with a whirlwind of terror, shock, panic and adrenaline. In this, my first ever cardiac arrest situation, I asked a Care Assistant to call the resuscitation team and lifted the dead man from the toilet to his bed, on the other side of the ward, with the other Care Assistant. All of the other patients on the ward could see us carry him, as it was an open-plan ward. I did not have a chance to think.

The man was cold, white, stiff and very dead.

He had died on the toilet when he had a huge anal bleed. What made it worse was that he must have been there, undetected, since the shift before. I know this as he had riga-mortis. As the crash team arrived, imagine their surprise and my horror to find that we could not lay this man flat. He had stiffened so that his legs were at a ninety-degree angle.

The fact that I had placed an oxygen mask on him and had started the resuscitation process must have looked utterly ridiculous to the team. Crisis situations can do the funniest things. Hospital procedure states that if someone is for resuscitation then an emergency call MUST go out if their heart ceases to beat, regardless how dead they may be.

I was utterly humiliated and totally stunned.

Despite the fact that this patient had died before I had even arrived on the ward, it was me who had been found attempting to resuscitate a man who had clearly been dead for several hours. It was also my job to phone his wife and break the news. Like the day when the stabilisers came of my bike, I was left to get on with it – or crash. That day I crashed – badly.

This experience would shape my nursing career.

My friends laughed at me, as did my senior nurses. I was devastated and terrified to go back to work after this incident. However, I eventually saw the funny side, realising that the man in question had a very serious medical condition and that it was the night staff who were most at fault.

I learned several key lessons very fast.

1. Locate your patients at the beginning of each shift.

2. Dealing with death is easier when you learn to see the funny side of things.

3. S*** happens! Especially when you have a serious anal bleed.

I went on to witness hundreds of people die, see some tragic things and reflect on many life-changing incidents. In each case it was important to remain calm and cope with whatever situation arose. From babies dying with meningitis and breaking the news to their parents, to patching together the bodies of traffic accident victims to present to relatives – nursing in an acute setting is a life-shaping experience.

Everyone has a different coping mechanism.

Mine is humour. Others say nothing, some cry, get depressed or even get suicidal. Some of my colleagues have not coped particularly well as nurses, killing themselves, some deliberately and some by accident.

Death has always been at hand to remind me of the impermanence of my life and friendships.

The consequence of all of my experiences has been to teach me that I will enjoy life, whilst I have it. I appreciate my friends and family always. I learn to laugh at as much as I can, as quickly as possible and I will forgive those who feel the need to pass judgment on me.

In my life there have been many people who have told me how they think that I should feel and what is appropriate.

I have learned forgiveness towards such people. To believe that because I like to laugh means that I may not understand what suffering is or be insensitive to the suffering of others seems bemusing to me. However, to anyone feeling the need to judge me I would say to them, until you have worked on the front line of a job where people die almost daily, you will never understand.

Judgment is the enemy of self-empowerment.

I have come to realise that only through taking full responsibility for EVERYTHING that you think and feel will you ever reach any sort of resolution on life’s more pressing challenges. For most, if they held themselves to the same standard as their judgment of others then the world would be a better place.

If, however, anyone still feels the need to judge or blame me then they are my guest. If my comments or actions appear offensive then I have three suggestions:

1. Stop reading them,

2. Forgive me or,

3. Get over it.

Wishing you freedom through self-empowerment,

Adam

It is my experience that many people will not speak their truth through fear of disapproval. My dad has just left after a relaxing afternoon of catching up and I’m left here to sit and reflect on what has just happened.

Three and a half years ago my grandad, David Shaw, died, aged 94. Two years earlier I sat down and chatted with him about his life and recorded the conversations. For the first time since I have just sat down with my dad and listened to them again. It was as though he came down to join us one more time, bearing some powerful lessons.

He lived in a different time, almost a different universe.

With no money, he joined the RAF, in 1940. He had to go and train in the USA and then in Canada. My grandad was not one for falling into line because it made his life easier. He upset a few people with his straight-talking persona and sent almost all of his money back to my granny, in Belfast, so he had very little to live on.

Because cutlery was going missing from the canteen in the Canadian airbase the 2,000 recruits were ordered to pay 50 cents for their own set of cutlery, which they were to bring to each meal.

Everyone, except my grandad did what they were told.

If he had paid the money he would not have enough to live on and, out of principle, he refused. This upset all of the senior officers and landed my grandad in the black book. He would almost certainly have made it to the front line of the war, which was what he wanted to do, at least 18 months earlier.

He was thrown out of fighter command, as a pilot, and demoted to bomber command, as a navigator.

He took to navigation like a duck to water, loving the study of astral navigation. However, he was constantly overlooked for his commission to get to the front. He just kept doing what he was best at and studying constellations for the use of navigation.

Then a reporter started speaking to him.

His story so intrigued a reporter one day that he took up the story and pursued it to the highest level. This led to the discovery that he should have been commissioned at least 18 months earlier and been paid more.

18 months late, he was sent to the front line of the war.

His first 7 missions were bombing Berlin at night. During the first mission they almost died because they shot back. As they flew at night and every third bullet was a tracer, enemy fighters could see where they were. Their bomber was shredded by enemy bullets but, miraculously, none of them died.

This led to a group decision by his crew never to fire back at enemy fighters again.

On average 7% of the crew of every mission died. Based on this average, anyone who flew over 14 missions should be dead. My grandad went on to fly 42 missions, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross after being attacked 7 times by enemy fighters during one raid.

Bearing in mind that bombers were bigger, less mobile manoeuvrable, had less firepower than fighters and with filled with explosives and fuel, this was a highly hazardous job.

Statistically, he should have been dead 3 times over.

Although his brother died in the RAF during the war, my grandad survived. Had he not upset anyone and fallen ino line at his Canadian training base then he would have almost certainly entered the war at least 18 months earlier and almost certainly have died. Furthermore, I would not be here to tell the tale.

Are you facing an unpopular decision that may upset other people?

We must all, at times, make decisions that will be unpopular in life. For the best will in the world, sometimes a relationship must end, redundancy notices must be handed out or a conviction must be stated that will attract criticism, derision, or even hatred, from certain factions of society. However, these convictions do not only make you stronger – they could save your life.

People may not like decisions that you voice publicly. In the case of some notable leaders, like Gandhi or Martin Luther King, they may even lead to your death. However, when you do not speak your truth this can lead to a slow death from within, which, I believe, is far worse.

I believe that this is a big cause of heart disease.

Unless your truth is expressed it will manifest, as will symptoms. Some key indicators are high blood pressure, not wanting to go to work/back home after work, extreme reactions to people through unexpressed feelings, disharmony, excessive weight gain, depression, excess anger.

As Emiliano Zapata once said “It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.”

Maybe you disagree. That’s ok, I can take it!

My dad left today with a smile on his face. It was a great moment for me after a powerful reminder of where I have come from.

Thank you David Shaw – You have inspired me today, even from your grave

After spending last Christmas Eve in London, dressed as Santa, giving out hugs and having random fun, I knew that it would be a good idea to do it again this year. The fact is that this year has been challenging for me in many ways. However, it is not whether or not we are challenged – this is a certainty – it is how we bounce back.

Christmas Eve arrived and gave me the opportunity to focus on something positive.

With my friends Hitesh and Fabrizio I went into London with the sole intention of putting a smile on London’s face. To do this I dressed as Santa, took a “Free Hugs” placard and went with the flow for an afternoon of random fun. Words really can’t express what it’s like to step out of the social norms and talk to people on the tubes and hug people who I’ve never met before. This video captures some of the essence of my day out……

Yesterday, I was just about to leave the house to meet my dad for breakfast when a pipe burst. Water flooded in and my plans were dramatically altered. What was worse was that the tap to turn off the water was so stiff that I could not turn it. I didn’t even have a tool to help me! Water poured out of the pipe and I did not even have time to think.

As luck would have it……

Fortunately, I have always been blessed with luck and know some great people. Two calls and 20 minutes later a local plumber arrived and fixed the problem. Furthermore, I had a minor problem with my kitchen tap for the past week, where it sometimes leaked. He also sorted this out for me.

I swept out most of the water, put paper down to soak up the rest and joined my dad for lunch. When I returned I found that although the pipes were fixed, the heating wasn’t.

It wasn’t until I had a problem that I truly realised how lucky I was.

Having water that is on tap, heating that can be increased with the turn of a dial and pipes that stay intact has never been a consideration for me in the past couple of years. However, having a network of people who can help at short notice and direct me to the loft to check the tanks which eventually led to my heating returning (along with plenty of positive thought) was a true gift.

Furthermore, the small problem of my leaking kitchen tap would have been tolerated over Christmas if it wasn’t for my burst pipe.

Many people treat their health the same way.

During my time as a nurse it became apparent that health and house management have similarities. Most people who get seriously ill view health as simply an absence of disease. Consequently, they take no preventative or precautionary measures. Whether it is maintaining a house or your body, the principles appear to be the same.

1. Know what could happen (burst pipes/heart attack)

2. Know how to reduce the risk of it happening (proper lagging/paying attention to your mood and feelings)

3. Know what to do if the worst happens (the pipe bursts – know where to turn off the water supply/You experience chest pain – call an ambulance immediately and cease all activity)

4. Stay as positive as you can be.

Problem alchemy.

Many people would view a burst pipe, a wet floor, no heating for a day and a small expense as a bad day. I think it was a good one. I am now very grateful to be sitting in a warm, functional house. I am happy that I now know exactly what to do if it happens again. I have the kitchen tap fixed that wouldn’t be if it hadn’t happened and I am very thankful to Colin, the great local plumber who was here within 20 minutes of me calling him.

Yesterday could have been so much worse and today could have been so much more average. Instead, I can sit here feeling grateful and wiser about the workings of the house that I live in.

What or who could you be grateful for, that you usually take for granted?

Spend a few minutes thinking about this and your day will improve.

Wishing you a most wonderful Christmas.