Heimlich Maneuvers for the Heart

It’s a response that can save an endangered person’s life. It’s a technique well worth learning. It’s a relatively simple action that even children can master. The Heimlich Maneuver is credited to an American thoracic surgeon of the same name. Even though some controversy swirls around the practice, it has been proven to be effective in many cases.

The basic idea is that should food or some other object (heaven forbid, but it happens!) become lodged in a person’s throat inhibiting airflow, the impediment must be removed, albeit somewhat forcefully. If the person is unable to cough the thing up and out of the way, help is needed in the form of thrusts to the abdominal area of the body where the diaphragm hangs out. Once expelled, both the clog and the one clogged up are free to go about their business.

Dislodging something is seldom easy. Stuff clutters our closets and attics gathering dust only to be removed when something else needs to be put in its place. The notion of displacement has its roots in science but has been co-opted by psychology as well. Think of dropping a rock in a bucket of water. The mass of solid material shoves the liquid sitting complacently occupying space out of the way so that it can lodge there in its place. The lump in the bottom of the bucket and the puddles around the bucket are the indicators that displacement has occurred.

Those who have studied and analyzed human behavior believe we do that too. We’re upset with ourselves, but we lash out at someone else. We’ve been criticized by one person, and we turn and chew up some other person. Instead of harboring the emotion, letting it lodge in our craw for a while, we deflect it away from our tender selves and project it in the direction of a nearby target. Ouch. Neither the one first wounded nor the subsequent wound-ee are free to go about their business.

From time to time, whether we’re able to do it with any sense of ease or not, we would do well to examine the clutter that has accumulated in our hearts. What sort of stuff sits within, gathering dust or stewing in pain or smoldering in the fumes of malice? Is there something clogging up the channels designed for free-flowing connection with others of our kind? Are there detrimental objects occupying space that could be dislodged to make room for life-giving gifts? Would we do well to seek help in undergoing a Heimlich Maneuver for our hearts? Ouch, perhaps. Greater freedom to go about the business of living, for sure.