Heart & Love

Press your thumbs together, bend the remaining fingers, and have them connect at the fingernails. Slightly overlap your thumb and index finger. Combine the less-than symbol with the numeral 3. Draw a diamond, make a half circle on the top-left side, make another half circle on the top-right side. These various directions will all create the universal symbol of love, an anatomically inaccurate depiction of the heart that has come to represent the center (or heart) of emotion, intuition, sincerity: heartbroken, follow your heart, cross my heart. In the body, a functioning heart is essential to being alive. Some poets and great writers might also argue that love is the sole purpose of life. Across cultures and religions, from science to artistic expression, the heart as symbol has been omnipresent for centuries, whether in ancient practices or pop-art creations.