What was that bit from The Breakfast Club? "When you grow up, your heart dies." I believe several factors are in play. First, instinctual self-regulation of

What was that bit from The Breakfast Club? "When you grow up, your heart dies." I believe several factors are in play. First, instinctual self-regulation of cycles. It seems that babies need to figure out how to sleep on a regular basis, but eventually they "settle down." Similarly, I suspect that the outbursts of childhood self-regulate, without reflection. I also consider conscious self-reflection. In the American remake of La Femme Nikita, one character adopts another's line, "I never did mind the little things" as a response to provocation. Mine has been "Well, this is hardly the worst thing that has happened to me." Which leads into the third factor -- the more we experience, the greater breadth of experience we have and so we have greater highs and lower lows against which to compare our current experiences. Fourth, declining energy levels. We get tired as we grow older. It becomes easier to deprioritize simply because we must spend our limited reserves on other things. All of this sounds reasonable, but I do wonder, in the pallor of middle age, about the idea that your heart dies. Just a little.