When we hear of someone who has had a stroke, we traditionally think of the person's brain either drowned in blood from a burst vessel or a blockage that caused a portion of the brain to become starved of blood. The effected area of the brain dies if it doesn't receive nourishing oxygen quickly.
I believe that a person can also experience a stroke of the heart. This can happen when the heart is flooded with overwhelming emotion. The heart begins to shut itself off as a matter of survival.
Intense grief after losing a loved one can overwhelm the heart with emotion. Women who have lost a child often describe their grief as being heartbreaking or heart shattering. It's as though the heart has been torn apart. It feels like it will never heal again, like part of the heart has been suffocated of life-giving energy and has died. Women speak of part of themselves dying along with their child.
When my son passed away, my heart felt as though someone had wrenched it from my body, stomped on it until it was completely crushed, and then tossed it aside. I thought it died along with my son. I thought my heart would never be capable of loving again. I had had a stroke of the heart.
Thankfully, there were people in my life who loved me and gave me life-sustaining support. My heart was able to slowly recover until it functioned on its own again. It will never be the whole heart it once was, but it is a heart that can love again.
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