Heart Matters
Cops understand the fundamental importance of ballistic vests. Body armor provides a level of protection against external physical threats, limiting the ability of projectiles from penetrating the human core where vital organs exist. Further advances in bullet-resistant fibers along with improving fit and comfort lead to greater wearability, and ultimately, lives saved.
Yet it requires user action to take full-advantage of these life-saving features by donning the vest each day as part of the uniform ensemble. Modern officer-safety campaigns, like the Below 100 initiative, focus on such preparedness and prevention measures, with one of their five core tenets being simply "wear your vest." Mandatory wear policies have become the norm in many law enforcement agencies.
Similarly, there is greater awareness in the current generation of policing around the issue of cardiac health. Law enforcement has recognized the need to educate and promote heart-healthy living for members of the profession. Incorporating cardiovascular and strength-training exercise with proper nutrition and other lifestyle choices, these efforts focus on internally improving our hearts.
But what about the mental and spiritual aspects of cardiac health? Guarding your heart is equally important for the health of your mind and soul. From a basic understanding of human anatomy and physiology, if the heart is not working, the associated parts of your body are dead.
Especially from a spiritual approach, guarding your heart requires diligence. This might mean the placement of appropriate relational boundaries to keep toxic persons from negatively impacting your soul. As a law enforcement professional responsible to the community, being in that position can easily challenge your soul, even causing adverse health effects with physical symptoms.
Instead of focusing on the areas beyond your control, shift your mindset to dealing with those things within your sphere of influence. Notice also how your words and actions flow out of your heart. When your heart is in the right place, you will lead better. Having the right perspective about even the most wrong of circumstances makes a difference in the performance of your duties and your overall personality as a human being.
Guard what you are placing in your heart. Just like we are cautioned on matters of nutritional intake in terms of what we eat and the effects of food on our cardiac health, we should give equal consideration to the other stuff that we ingest that can have an equal or greater impact on our hearts. Whose voices do we choose to listen to? What are we watching or reading in our spare time? Where are we looking for affirmation in our lives? How do we spend our money? Some of you might be skeptical of this line of questioning, but ultimately such answers influence our heart.
Please, take this message to heart (no pun intended). Individual healthcare begins with personal heart-care. Obviously, we must still do the work of policing, but a few defensive measures and some offensive maneuvers will help guard our hearts in all aspects of life, including physical, mental, and spiritual.
