The numbers are amazing...

According to Discovery Health's calculator, between today (August 23, 2006) and my birth date, my heart has beat 1,911,301,056 times. That's assuming that in a typical minute one's heart beats about 72 times. You can do the math to figure out when I was born, but I'll save you the trouble: March 4, 1956, (or as I like to tell the person behind the counter selling me wine: 3-4-56. Cool, eh?)

The number jives with what the sages of India have maintained for centuries: There is a fixed number of times the heart is meant to beat each year. The number is something like 40 million. While you can argue about the precise number (by all means, use the calculator), I think you'll agree that the heart, like any sturdy pump, has a limited working lifespan. So, what's the point?

Talk to a mechanic and he (or she) will tell you that pumps running at high speeds usually burn out sooner and require more maintenance than pumps that run at slow speeds. So here's the brilliant touch: Positive emotions are always slower and less stressful than negative ones. You can prove it yourself. The next time you are fuming mad and about to blow your top, stop for a micro-second to check your pulse and breathing rhythm. They've all speeded up, sending your entire physiological system into overdrive.

Thus, when you are angry, jealous, anxious, jealous, worried, filled with fear or hanging on to strong likes and dislikes (a topic for another day), our 40 million beats per year lasts only 10 months instead of 12. We have lost 2 months of our lives.

On the bright side, sages and now many Western researchers give some practical advice: If you can remain patient when under attack, go for a walk in the woods when you need to de-stress; if you can learn to help those who are unkind to you, then your 40 million beats, instead of lasting for 12 months will last for 14 months. You have GAINED 2 months of life. Just like that. A simple lifestyle change.

Thus, by taking the road of love and living for the benefit of others, as Mother Teresa would encourage us to do, should allow us to live a full span of 120 years of active, loving service to the world.

May the beats go on and on and on and on...