The "flame within" is the theme for the athletes of the Winter Olympics that are now taking place in Turin. This is also National Heart Month and the flame within brings up images of the heart and what it needs to be healthy. So instead of talking about cholesterol, homocysteine and C-Reactive Protein and the medicine behind the health of the heart I would like to talk about the affairs of the heart. When men and women (don't forget that heart disease is the number one killer of women) are interviewed in the cardiac care units about what they think has caused their heart attack, they don't say that they ate too much fat or didn't exercise. They talk about love and recent events where love was spurned or how their heart has not been open to love or how their life is passing them by and they are not living the life that they would love. Paracelsus reminds us that "the best physician in us is love."

This is my favourite time of year to go on retreat and take stalk of my life. It is never too late to take the New Year resolutions made on Jan 1st and to put them into some sort of plan in order to manifest what you love into your life. As Stephen Covey and Julia Cameron speak to in their books, write it down and it will come to pass! A simple demonstration of this principle was recently manifested in my life when I found the book "Sir Winston Churchill: His Life and His Paintings" that I had written on my wish list last year when I learned of it. I had completely forgotten about my wish until I was in a book store and found it on display at 50% off! This demonstrates two principles: be very clear about the end result of your goal and be patient! It can take time for your dreams to come true, but they do, step by step.

So how do you get started? First you set aside some of your precious time where you can be alone, be undisturbed preferably for several days and be out of your normal routine. This will clear a space to provide fertile ground for your ideas. Establish goals in each of the 7 important roles you play in your life including that of spouse, parent and family member. But don't forget to identify and pay attention to your passions, for example, painting, photography and travel. We often don't consider these important because they don't contribute to our income so we think we shouldn't waste our time on them. The unfortunate truth is that if you ignore the callings of your heart (not hurting anyone by it mind you) you are doing your heart a disfavour.

These so called planning sessions should also be done with a spouse or dear friend to help cement them into reality. Once a few hours are spent together reviewing your 7 roles and you have set out a plan for the next 1-5 years, you begin to feel the universe getting out its paint set to begin the colourful canvas of your dreams!

Secondly get inspiration from books such as "The Art of Pilgrimage" by Phil Cousineau and "Gift from the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Recently I was inspired to learn of the book "The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship" by Craig Hatkoff telling of a stranded baby hippopotamus, Owen, finding a new mother in the 130 year old giant tortoise, Mzee, after the tsunami separated Owen from his mother. The universal truth demonstrated by this story is that we all need to receive and give love and it doesn't matter in what form as long as it is not hurtful.

So take your precious heart on a pilgrimage and find ways to bring into your life those persons, pets, places or events that allow your heart to open and in the parting words of a passenger on a doomed flight of 9/11 to his wife "Please be happy. Please live your life. That's an order."