I’m already getting in full Thanksgiving gear, brining my turkeys and making the desserts. I’ll be in maniacal chef mode tomorrow, so I won’t be posting anything then. If you want, you can read my latest article in MindBodyGreen, just in time for Thanksgiving. Click HERE to check it out.

This post is about heart disease. Most of us know someone who suffers from heart problems and some of us have it ourselves. From this, you can see that every disease has a spiritual message from the soul that screams: “Something needs to change here!”

Me: Hi, Jamie.

Jamie: Hi. How are you?

Me: I’m fine. Hi, Erik.

Erik: Hi, Mom. Hi, everybody.

Me: We’ve been talking about cheerful subjects—

Sarcasm noted.

Me: But we’re going to talk along similar lines by talking about heart disease. God, I think everyone knows someone with heart disease. You know, great grandpa died of a massive heart attack, etc. I just want to ask you about the spiritual aspects of that. What is the general spiritual basis? I know it can be unique to each case, but is there an overarching one that’s the most common?

Erik: Looking overarching, all the heart diseases, right?

Me: If you want to. I don’t know; can we do that?

Erik: Well, yeah.

Me: Okay.

Erik: Heart energy relates mostly to the heart chakra, which is kind of the—not the only place we store emotions, but—

Me: Oh!

Erik: Yeah, we store them everywhere, Mom!

Me: Okay. I guess we are emotions, right?

Erik: Yes. Emotional beings.

Me: That’s right. We are emotional energy.

Erik: Let’s just say the heart chakra is the area that sounds off the loudest.

Me: Mm hm.

Erik: And when we end up with heart complications or heart disease, heart issues, we’re looking at, in general, people who do good for others or give to others even if it’s not a good thing. They give to others and deny self. They put self in last place. So they have a difficulty in defining self-worth. It’s not so much about confidence. You look at these people, and they’re very confident in their field. They’re very strong people.

Me: Maybe that’s why a lot of them are Type A. Workaholics.

Erik: Yes! They’re persistent. They’re going to do it, but they give so much to all of that and so very little to themselves. So the energy around the heart organ that’s needed for it to run properly isn’t there to work properly. The heart comes under stress and has a “lack of.”

Me: Okay.

Erik: When there’s a lack of, when you’re not getting supplemented, then all of a sudden you’re pulling from other areas, and you’re creating a deficiency. That’s what can create the disease. Now if it’s hereditary stuff, and you have people who say, “You know, it’s not even my thing. My dad had it, and now I have it,” it’s lined up in the ancestral lineage and is to be passed down as a lesson. The first person to really break that energetic pattern, that energetic need, will not—

Jamie: Get out!

Me: What?

Erik: –will not pass it down to the next person.

Jamie (looking perplexed): I’m asking him if that means that anything that’s hereditary like Alzheimer’s and stuff like that, if the person learns beyond it, grows beyond that energetic deficiency that creates it, then it no longer becomes a hereditary thing.

Me: Hm. So it must influence the DNA that you pass on to your children.

Erik: Yes, it does.

Me: Wow. Interesting. Can it be related to another life?

Erik: Yes, it can. That’s where nobody else in the family has it, but you do.

Me: I guess even if it does run in the family, you can probably, it can still be related to another life.

Erik: Yes.

Me: Give me an example of why that would happen from another life.

Erik: It could be something that you didn’t finish, and you came in with the same person who would heal that energetic deficiency. Let’s say it’s a relationship or a mother daughter kind of thing. You have that chance all over again. So you can hit a redo button and heal it and put it to rest. Then you don’t have to have the experience of a massive heart attack.

Me: Yeah, okay. But if you don’t, you will.

Erik: Yes.

Me: Okay. What can people do, from a spiritual perspective, to cure themselves or to at least make it better? What can they do to help their heart chakra?

Erik: Self-love. Self-respect. And if they don’t understand that or if they say, “I already do that. I’m very kind to myself. I give myself pedicures. I do this. I do that.”

Jamie (smiling): Pedicures?

Erik: Then I would tell them, “Listen, it’s time to see someone else. Get their insight to help them understand themselves. It’s not about making the changes. It’s not about seeing somebody so that you can change who you are. That bullshit definition has to drop. It’s about getting to know yourself better. Then you’ll see, yes, maybe you have been going through the motions of loving yourself, but the relationship you had with your mother when you were six is holding you back, and you hated her for the decision she made, and now, all of a sudden, you realize that that’s been the underlying block to you being who you want to be when you grow up. Now you have the freedom to make changes to be set free. Then you really love yourself.

Me: Ta-da!

Erik: The tension in the heart eases up and goes away. So much that we really believe we’re doing for ourselves and how we understand ourselves is just a fucking trick of the mind.

Me: I know.

Erik: It’s because we want to show people that we’re doing the work. We’re good people. We’re successful, and it’s all okay. But getting right beneath the surface, it’s not okay. You didn’t process all of that. That can surprise the shit out of you. As soon as you acknowledge it, usually the work is done.

Me: Wow, that’s something. That’s right. Acknowledging it often makes it disappear. It’s amazing.

Erik: Yes! Most of the time it’s like, “Oh, I had no idea. Now I know.”

Me: So a therapist, even a life coach, might help?

Erik: Or a hypnotherapist.

Me: Okay. We can tap into other lives that way and see if there’s any connection.

Erik: Yes.

Me: What would you do first?

Erik: I would see a therapist first. I just enjoy the conversation. I’m a little bit more logical, so I would want to ask the questions: What is love? Am I really understanding it? When did I first experience it? I would want a therapist who could walk me through some memories or how I accepted or received love, and do I do the same now? [The therapist] would help me understand: Do I believe in what I believe in, or was it shown or taught to me and I accepted it? Maybe I need to make changes to that material and be more authentically me instead of my dad.

Me: Yeah. Okay, that makes sense.

Stay tuned Friday for Part Two and have a Happy Thanksgiving. If you’re traveling, be safe!