When I was younger, more stupid, and more naive, I was a firm believer in "following your heart." I thought if you followed your heart on everything in you life, every choice you made, every move you made, then everything would turn out fine in the end.
I don't believe that anymore. Well, I do to an extent. I do think you need to listen to your heart at all times, but not necessarily follow it all the time. Your heart doesn't always want what's best for you. So you need to find a balance, a healthy medium, between your heart and your mind. Listen to both and let both guide you. Don't just use passion or emotions or feelings to make a decision, use logic too.
If we were given both a mind and a heart and the ability to listen and follow each of them, how come sometimes we don't do that? Why do we sometimes only listen to what our heart wants and only follow it, while our mind is screaming at us that we are making the wrong decision. Am I making sense? Here's an example.
About 7 months ago, I had to make a decision. A choice between two guys. One of them, we'll call him guy number one (we weren't dating at the time, only talking, but we had dated before), is the one my heart wanted, but my mind didn't. He's someone that I had known for quite some time and had very very strong feelings for. I really believed he was the best guy I had ever dated and probably ever would date, and I was almost sure he was my soulmate. My heart wanted him more than anything. But my head didn't. My mind told me daily that there are numerous reasons why I shouldn't be with him. I won't list them all here, but I'm not exaggerating when I say there were a lot of reasons why my mind was against him. But did I listen to my mind? Not really. I tried, but my heart was too strong, it always won the battle. But then a new guy, guy number two, came along. I liked him. I liked him a lot, actually. He was really amazing. Being with guy number one had made me set the bar very high when it came to potential boyfriends. Guy number two exceeded those standards. And I couldn't find hardly any reasons why I shouldn't be with him. There really was only one thing but it was minor and soon to be fixed. My heart and mind completely and totally agreed on guy number two. But there was still the issue of whether or not I wanted to listen to my mind. It was screaming right in my face, "PICK GUY NUMBER TWO! NUMBER ONE WILL NEVER EVER WORK!" I knew my head was right but... Well, I'm stubborn and young and rebellious and my heart just doesn't like to back down.
In the end, I picked guy number two. My heart surrendered and decided to give my mind equal share of control. I listen to both now, and let both guide me... Most of the time. Sometimes my heart gets a little crazy, but eventually my mind grabs it's half of the reins again and things are okay. Had I not listened to my mind 7 months ago and let my heart continue on the path it was on, things would not be nearly as good as they are now. I'd be stuck dealing with all the problems that guy number one has (and they are his problems, not mine).
My point is, your heart can lead you astray. You need your head too. Use both.
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