Monday, May 31, 2010

beat 61 - dancing


"My heart just wants to have fun. That's all it wants to do. And dance to disco."

-Joey Trotto, NYC
Stylist at Soon Salon in NYC

Sunday, May 30, 2010

beat 60 - assured


"I'll tell ya, it's a good heart. Good heart. Good soul. Keeps on ticking, no problem. With all the mistakes in the world, I'm still positive. I'm still a good person. You gotta be. No matter what, you gotta be a good person and stay positive. How else could you live well?"

-Larry Forero, NYC
Musician

Saturday, May 29, 2010

beat 59 - lightheartedness


"My heart is pounding like a giddy little girl! That feeling you have when you know everything is perfect...perfect in my world"

-Nastassja Balick, NYC
at city hall on her new york city wedding day

Friday, May 28, 2010

beat 58 - guided


"We haven't done anything conventionally or with tradition but more because we felt it in our hearts.
Our journey together is about unexpected surprises, strong passion, good and harder times, love, friendship, new experiences, memories...
We have chosen to listen to our hearts and follow where it guides us as much as possible.
Love is in the air!"

-Anthony Coppers, NYC
jumping - on his wedding day - with daughter, Chloe

Thursday, May 27, 2010

beat 57 - simply


"My heart thought: Long live love."

-Chloe Reed, Englewood, NJ
Teacher, mother to Griffin, 15 months

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

beat 56 - absolute

"Ahh, that's serious stuff. The heart is life. You cannot really mess with that. Once your heart goes, life is gone. You know that. It's everything. Everything."

-Sheldon Lyttle, Guyana, now living in Brooklyn
Painter, messenger

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

beat 55 - healed


"My heart is beating for two - I am 17 weeks pregnant.
As a child I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse, which is an irregular heart beat. I have counted this diagnosis as part of my identity for most of my life. When I learned that I was pregnant, I went to a cardiologist to see how this would impact me. After doing a sonogram of my heart, the doctor stated "who told you you had mitral valve prolapse? You do not. You have a very strong and healthy heart - you will be fine."
Hearing those words - my heart felt lighter, relieved and overjoyed! It's an indescribable experience to discover you no longer have a broken heart..."

-Kelly Stineman, New Rochelle, NY
Counselor & College Administrator, mom-to-be

Monday, May 24, 2010

Sunday, May 23, 2010

beat 53 - lack


"My heart is so open, yet so empty. Something is missing."

-Mandy Line, Los Angeles, CA
Costume Designer for "Pretty Little Liars"

Saturday, May 22, 2010

beat 52 - belief

"My heart. My heart is passionate in every way. The way I talk. the way I cook. The way I see the world and everything around. I'm an artist and it's in all I do. All I am. I believe fully in union and family and I believe in God. I believe we should all know our birth rights and what recipe is meant for us all. Mine is mapped out in passion. Everyone should know their recipe, the one God created for us."

-Leonila, Los Angeles, CA
Artist

Friday, May 21, 2010

beat 51 - ease


"My heart is at peace and full of love for life."

-Rachelle Shakoori, Orange County, CA
Lawyer

Thursday, May 20, 2010

beat 50 - reflective


"My heart feels an empty loneliness in a good sense. As if shadows have taken over with rain. I feel the heart is full of time and space - it shows us from day to day where we are, how we are and how we feel and how to be and of course, how not to be. The heart follows our journey through time and space, the narrow steps, of the very short stairs. And as we look eye to eye of other humans, we feel the vibrations of their hearts. Of their time and space.
I believe the projection of each other's lives is a reflection of our self in others. We are each other. With a reflection living in different bodies. With different hearts. That's the fascination of creation. So the emptiness I feel is for the suffering of other's in the world, I feel the love of the world but also the pains. Overall love is carried through eyes, the third chakra and through the heart. My love for the world can be seen through all of these. Women are always making an effort to make our dreams come true. Being feminine is to love the paradise and love the suffering, to see through the eyes, the heart and the third chakra. Then life becomes very balanced and easy to understand. Then, you understand and accept suffering."

-Virginia Quental, Vancouver, Canada
artist

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

beat 49 - connected


"My heart is happy all the time. I keep it that way. Even though my family is in Senegal, my 4 children and wife, I keep them in my thoughts to keep my heart happy. I'm here because I like to be with good people. It's a good country, everyone is the same here. Everyone equal. You don't worry about going places and being treated bad. It's important to be around good people. One day my family will join me here and my heart will be even happier. And theirs too."

-Cisse Malle, NYC by way of Senegal
new york city street vendor 

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

beat 48 - one


"John's heart is strong. It works overtime for so many different people, different talents, different causes. But it has to be strong because it somehow still has the energy to make me the happiest girl imaginable."

-Christine Teigen, NYC
model

"Chrissy's heart is full of passion. She feels everything deeply. She can be precious and fragile, but she can also be powerful and fierce. I love her and I'm so happy that I have the opportunity to embrace and protect her heart."

-John Legend, NYC
singer/songwriter/founder of the Show Me Campaign

Monday, May 17, 2010

beat 47 - apt


"My heart is quite clever. Sometimes I don't give it enough credit. It guides me places my brain could never even imagine."

-Christine Maher, NYC

Sunday, May 16, 2010

beat 46 - protected


"My heart is the most protected part of me. I am at all times trying to keep it safe. I've felt it drop and felt that pain that goes so deep it feels like it will never beat again - the kind of pain only a heart can produce. I guard it at all times. In those rare moments I have let something or someone pass through all these lines of defense, it ends up being impossible to regret. If something makes my heart race whether good or bad, that is what fills a life. I remember forever."

-Allie Rizzo, NYC
Model

Saturday, May 15, 2010

beat 45 - black

c
IF I COULD DRAW A MAP OF MY HEART IT WOULD GO SOMETHING LIKE THIS-
WHEN I WAS A BOY MY HEART WAS BIG AND FULL,  FILLED WITH YOUTHFUL INNOCENCE AND OPTIMISM.

THEN ONE DAY I UNEXPECTEDLY DETOURED INTO A DARK AND DANGEROUS LANDSCAPE FILLED WITH OGRES, AND TROLLS.
IT SEEMED HARDER AND HARDER TO KEEP THE LIGHT SHINING  AS I ENTERED INTO MY OWN HEART OF DARKNESS.
MY TRAVELING COMPANION DURING THIS TIME WAS A SMALL CROSS EYED TONKINESE CAT NAMED THIA.
SHE DIDN'T DEMAND A LOT, AND I HAD A SIXTH SENSE THAT SOMEHOW THIS TINY CREATURE WAS GENTLY HELPING ME TO KEEP A LIGHT BURNING IN MY HEART.

THEN ONE DAY, I MIRACULOUSLY CAME OUT OF THE DARKNESS,
AND MET ANOTHER TRAVELING COMPANION -
THE INCREDIBLE DENNIS WHO HELPED ME SALVAGE WHAT I FEARED I HAD LOST -
MY HOPES, MY HAPPINESS...
MY HEART.

-Tommy Lonardo, NY
Screenwriter

Friday, May 14, 2010

beat 44 - shhh



"I think my heart is mad at me because I don't always listen to it. Today I will."

-Teri Cotruzzola, Brooklyn, NY
Prop set stylist

Thursday, May 13, 2010

beat 43 - full


"My heart is idiosyncratic, it wants to be strong and brave and free, but it loves staying home with its closest loves. My heart loves to play princess and hide under the covers because monsters are coming. My heart is 8 months pregnant, beautiful, and my best friend. My heart is torn between New York and Ohio, between my home and my HOME. My heart has a beautiful baby boy. My heart took me in and gave me the greatest childhood, taught me to be a man, and still makes me feel like a little kid. Sometimes my heart aches, but mostly it is happy.

My heart is content."

-Tony Fasolino, Columbus, Ohio
father of the year, my brother

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

beat 42 - abducted


"I wear my heart on my sleeve and my love is stuck somewhere in my pocket. I gave my heart away when I was 17 and the boy that stole it wont give it back to me and I don't know what to do! I've tried kicking and screaming and begging, but nothing works. He refuses to let me love anyone else and I surrender because I clearly have been sucker punched.

He is far away from me at the moment and there's not a day that goes by I don't miss him or smile when I think about him. So until we are together soon, my love is stuck in my pocket."

-Nico Guilis, NYC

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

beat 41 - expansive


"I was born with an open heart. And I'm grateful that I've been able to work with the world with that heart. Though at times it's been through a lot of pain, because sometimes people will step on an open heart. However, it's never stopped my heart from being open.
The work that I do is a lot about my heart. Helping people. Listening to people. Understanding people. The big part of that is that I believe this universe needs to excelerate to another level, for people to join together and be different with each other. I feel there is a movement happening already - in different modalities - the yoga world, in the meditation world, in the therapy world, with Buddhism, where people are working for a higher level of humanity. So my open heart is working toward that goal. As many people as I can reach, and as many people as I can help to excelerate their healing so they can open their hearts more, makes my heart jump for joy.
There's not a day that I work where I don't walk away with a joyous feeling that there's some healing happening on this planet. I know I'm just a small square in a big picture but I'm thrilled to be doing my part and I'm thrilled that I was given this gift, to have an open heart. So I could be part of this."

-Felice Goldberg, Long Island, NY
Psychoanalyst

Monday, May 10, 2010

beat 40 - engaged

"My heart...it's multi-tasker.
My heart yearns to be with family and loved ones distances away.
It aches with the memory of loved ones whose lives were taken too soon.
It swells with joy being surrounded by laughter and love.
My heart's desire is to live each moment without regret.
My hearts ability to mend itself and its capacity to love limitlessly never ceases to amaze me."

-Tara Michelle, Armonk, NY
Teacher

Sunday, May 9, 2010

beat 39 - reminders


"This heart blanket means a lot to me because it's one of the only things I have left from when I was born in Costa Rica, so it reminds me of being there. My mom recently showed me a picture of my birth mom and it made me cry tears of joy because I always wondered what she looked like. But my heart belongs to both my mom and dad. I love them."

-Sophia, Chappaqua, NY

Saturday, May 8, 2010

beat 38 - grounded


"There are pieces of my heart scattered around the world - from portland to palm beach, new york, philadelphia and kunkletown, pa. But it feels whole when my head is resting in the nook of my husbands neck because as the old adage goes...home is where the heart is."

-Ilyssa Diamond Summerfield, London
SVP Content Management of Stylesight

Friday, May 7, 2010

beat 37 - bonded


"After a weekend of celebrating mothers day with my amazing mother, who I love more than I could ever express; my wonderful mother-in-law who I am so grateful for; and my sister, who put on the most perfect princess birthday party for her daughter, my heart is full, happy, thankful, and utterly exhausted. But my heart was SO happy to see my oldest friend on her birthday, exactly 32 years after we first became friends in the White Plains Hospital Nursery."

-Tricia Wencelblat, NYC
Lawyer, oldest friend/hospital roommate the day I was born (today)

Thursday, May 6, 2010

beat 36 - unstoppable



"My heart is passionate, driven, positive and giving. My heart beats for my dad because he left this world before it was his time. My heart believes that anything is possible, and if you envision it, it will happen. My heart loves to be loved, and loves to love. My heart belongs to one but embraces many."

-Meredith Turner Guerriero, NYC
Google

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

beat 35 - pure


"You can control the mind. But you cannot control the heart. The heart will show what you have inside of you. If you have a good heart, you will behave well. I have a good heart. That's the problem. I cannot be bad. I don't want to be bad."

-Aziz Dogan, Brooklyn, by way of Istanbul, Turkey
Health is Wealth store, NYC

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

beat 34 - control



"The heart. It's a strange thing. In many cultures the heart and the mind are one. The heart is about the mind. For me I really enjoy what I do, this is following my dreams my heart and mind. I issue control over both my body and my mind to do the things I want to do. Positive thoughts, positive energy. It's what we all need. It's good for my heart."

-Thomas, North Carolina
Magician

Monday, May 3, 2010

beat 33 - full serve



"My heart is open for business."

-Becca Kauffman, Greenpoint, Brooklyn via Boston
Singer, ice cream truck saleswoman

Sunday, May 2, 2010

beat 32 - momentary

"My heart is telling me that I'm happy and excited to be in New York. Take one day at a time, and try to enjoy more the moment and the beauty of life and not worry too much."

-Ida Buer, Norway
Model

Saturday, May 1, 2010

beat 31 - shared


"My heart is taken."

Sunny Setton De Poortere, Brooklyn
On her wedding day