"You know, but I think your heart grows back bigger. You know? Once you get the shit beat out of you. And, um, the universe lets your heart expand that way, and I think that's the function of all this pain and heartache that you go through and you gotta go through that to come out to a better place and that's how I see it, anyway."
- Must Love Dogs (2005)
This movie quote caught my attention but I wasn't able to fully understand it or embrace it until my biology teacher explained how some antibiotics work.
Some antibiotics kill the bacteria by weakening the bacterial cell wall. How?
According to my teacher, there's an enzyme that punches holes into the stiff wall of the bacterial cell wall allowing the cell to expand or increase in size. Then, another enzyme, transpeptidase, does the healing of these holes. The antibiotics stop the healing process so the holes cause the weakening of the wall so the cell "bursts".
If the pain or the suffering you've gone through are that enzyme that dug holes into your heart (the cell wall), this allows your heart to expand. However, it is unlikely that you'll burst because, in this case, the transpeptidase or the healing enzyme is God's mercy... and it's endless! Alhamdulilah! God sends people to help you out and signs to keep you going.
But what exactly is the expansion of the heart? Personally, I believe that most of our thoughts in the normal state are categorised under "what I want". But after any intense experience, it's as if a process of automatic prioritisation takes place; our thoughts get classified under what's important, what's more important and what's not important at all. We begin to look at life from an absolutely different perspective. This leads to a state of satisfaction with what God has given you.
Also, in pain lies purification. After every trouble or ordeal, one begins to think: “What have I ever done to deserve this?” If I'm truly frank with myself, I will find many flaws to improve. Of course, linking pain to personal mistakes is not quite right; pain is a key ingredient in life and the sooner we accept that, the sooner we'll be able to heal ourselves. However, even if I'm back to my balance, I should still have traces of the “I wanna be better” thought. This, to me, is purification.
[ satisfaction + purification = expansion ]
In the end, the best thing about hard times is that .. they do pass. Feel the mercy, thank The Merciful and let your heart expand.
=)
