LEARN
Something Worth SharingFrom The Bottle To The Sleeve I’m not one for Valentine’s Day celebrations - it annoys me how commercial it has become, however it has created a learn for me this week. I was thinking about the heart and in particular the expression “to wear your heart on your sleeve”. I learned that it came from medieval jousts. The sleeve in a joust referred to the armour worn to protect the arm. Very often a knight would wear a / his lady’s token around this armour. The well known expression is thought to have originated from Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello: Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end;
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In complement extern, ’tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.
To wear our heart on our sleeve is to accept, own and be unafraid to reveal our true feelings. In society, we are so often encouraged to act accordingly - to comply and “bottle” our feelings. Not only have I learned the origins of the expression, and also a re-learn about the importance of taking our feelings from the figurative bottle and placing them on our sleeve - with courage and pride, with ownership and responsibility. Remember, the most important relationship we ever have is the one with ourselves!
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