beat 162 - unexpected

"Truthfully, I'm in a band, and I'm in love with my bandmate. He's my best friend, he's my world. We're the annoying couple - we call each other nicknames all day and talk to each other funny. I was so hurt by my last breakup and we started writing music together, after he made me so much happier than I had ever been. He's helped me grow into a much better person, happier. More loving."


-SC, NYC

beat 161 - superfine

"The heart is sacred, you know? My heart is in love with my wife, Margarita and my four children. All girls. They are good to me, they love me but they are crazy. Women are crazy. But it's ok, they make me happy and laugh and in my heart I know they mean only good. Because good hearts are all we all have the same in this world. We all got them good hearts."

-St Lucia

Bellman at the Ritz Carlton

beat 160 - swept

"My wife gave me this necklace. She had it made with a crown and hearts on it because I say she's the queen of hearts. My heart."


-David, St Thomas
Taxi driver

beat 159 - darkened

"I got this heart tattoo after I had some bad blood with people I loved."


-Joshua Wildman, New York City

beat 158 - jolted

"Many years ago I was drinking 5 cups of coffee a day. My began to take a serious toll on my heart. I was at home one day and felt my heart racing, I knew something wasn't right so I took my pulse. My heartbeat was way beyond where it should have been so I went to the ER. When I got there the first question they asked me was how much cocaine I had done. It was the coffee, coffee was acting as a drug in my heart. I finally had to cut it out but I was totally addicted. One of the hardest things I've ever done. Yeah, I drink a cup now and I did start to get cocky at one point a few years ago, having more than one cup. But my heart stopped me and reminded me to stay in check."


-Dr Steven Dillon, New York City
Doctor

beat 157 - karmic

"I am an American! My heart is good! Why not? I'm a very honest, good person. Always thinking better. Definitely always happy. I never have complaints. I always think good. I try to help people. Stay positive and love everything and be happy because I live here and my family is free and we all laugh together! I am a good person and then the world is good to me. That's how it works, you know? You are good and good things happen. You are bad and bad things happen. I drive people around, I make friends. You and me, we talk. I drive you to a place where you want to go, that makes you happy. Then I go, I find someone new to drive and we talk and then the world is happier. Come on, we all can be so happy! In America this is so easy!"


-Sheiks, Jackson Heights, Queens by way of Bangladesh 
Taxi driver

beat 156 - scared

"My heart is good. It's happy. I have my daughter, my husband, we are good and happy. But it's very hard because my mother is sick back home in Argentina. That hurts me. I brought Sophia to see her grandmother for one month, which made us all happy. But my mother is not well and that hurts my heart."


-Mariela, New York City
New mom to Sophia, 3 months

beat 155 - courageous

"Open mind. Open heart. I'm ready for whatever. I just always keep myself open to whatever the universe brings me. It's important that you don't let fear take over you. Just try it. Whatever it is, try. If you fuck up, just try again."


-Eddie Marco, Miami, FL, living in NYC for 18 years
Bikram yoga teacher/actor/bartender

beat 154 - respected

"My heart belongs to two people: my son, Dusty, and his son, Alex. I was a single mom, which can be hard. But unlike my mother, who thought being a friend and a mother wasn't the right way to raise a child, Dusty and I were best friends. We are best friends. We are everything - mother and son, brother and sister, best friends, each other's rock. I know that if a son loves his mother there's no way he will ever treat a woman badly. If a mother respects and loves a son, that son will grow up to always give respect to women. It makes the world a better place. And that makes my heart happy."


-Michelle, St Thomas
Massage therapist

beat 153 - dignified

"My heart is an endless magic trick...constantly amazing me with its capacity to expand.


I remember being fascinated when I learned in school the actual size of the heart. To this day it still boggles my mind that such a powerful part of our bodies is only the size of a fist. Yet no matter how many times mine feels like its going to explode with all the pride and worry and happiness and all consuming love I feel for the people that matter most to me in my life, my heart always seems to make room for more.


My heart may be small, but it is fierce. It knows no fear when it comes to conquering life and protecting the people that give it purpose. It is never afraid to make mistakes and surprises me regularly with its resilience, confidence and strength. It has cracked with disappointment and broken from love, but mostly it just aches from laughter (even if it's only at itself).


Above all else, my heart is lucky. It spends each and every day radiating a positive energy and smiling from chamber to chamber because it has the honor of being in the company of hilarious and inspiring people. Remarkable individuals who make it want to beat that much stronger and shine that much brighter."


-Jen Gordon, New York City