What To Choose Between Heart And Mind?

The essence of life lies in choice-making. At every stage of life, individuals are required to make choices. Children have a choice between studying or playing. Youth has to make career choices. A consumer has a choice between two goods. Each one of us often comes across choices. And all these choices have only one choice behind them — should we choose heart or brain?

Every person faces this complicated situation of conflict between heart and mind at some point of their lives. This conflict is often portrayed in movies and serials in the form of an angel and a demon who are trying to convince a person with their viewpoints. Here, the ‘angel’ and ‘demon’ symbolise the ‘heart’ and ‘brain’ respectively. It is always illustrated that the mind gives practical and rational advice whereas the heart indicates towards moral and idealistic approach. But is it legitimate? Let’s find out.

There are some people who are always asked to be practical and to listen to their mind instead of heart while making crucial decisions such as the decision to choose the right career. They are expected to make an informed choice rather than being carried away by emotions. But it has been observed that those who choose heart and decide to follow their passion, come out to be highly successful. However, it cannot be concluded that only those who follow their heart can achieve success in their life. There are people who hold pragmatic approaches and go by what their mind tells them. Such people have also succeeded in making it big in their life. So, how to determine what to choose?

Conflict between heart and mind: Use these 5 strategies to decide.

1. “Mind is very powerful”

People say that the mind is very powerful and is riding over us as our dictator. But we should not be biased against our brain. It should be powerful as it coordinates the whole body. It is responsible for all the functions of our body like respiration, digestion, etc.

However, it is also true that our mind sets traps for us. It always tries to confine us to our comfort zones and makes us procrastinators. At times, our mind makes false assumptions and invites troubles for us.

It is impossible for us to keep our mind calm. It keeps generating thoughts even when we are asleep. That is why it is often said that if you succeed in winning over your mind, then there is nothing which is impossible for you.

2. “Heart is insane”

If we think in terms of medical science, our heart is simply a pumping organ and produces only two sounds — ‘Lub Dub’. Our heart cannot think but it feels emotions.

Sometimes these emotions are so strong that they result in extreme behavioral problems. Powerful emotions can make a person wild. Such situations can also trigger a serious emotional breakdown. Therefore, it is recommended that you should not follow your heart because if everyone decides to follow their heart and start doing whatever they want to, then there will be a situation of absolute turmoil.

So, this question is very difficult to choose from the heart and the mind. But here are some recommendations which can help you in decision making during distressing circumstances:

3. Be the master of your heart and brain

It is indispensable for everyone to know the skill of controlling strong emotions and thoughts. Instead of being commanded by our mind or heart, we should know how to master them. We should not let our emotions or habit of overthinking make us weak but we should use them to become stronger than ever.

We should use the tactic of ‘fooling our brain’ to achieve the desirable results. For example, students can fool their brain by telling themselves again and again that they have their examination tomorrow itself and it will really boost their preparation.

4. We should not disregard heart or mind

One should never suppress his / her inner voice or emotions. Being emotional is a quality and there are no two opinions on the fact that the world is more beautiful for an emotional person as he / she can feel everything more deeply.

But at the same time, one should not forget that being realistic is very important in life. We should never breakdown or stress ourselves by being very emotional towards something. Life is all about moving on.

5. Combine your thoughts and emotions

It is quite obvious that you cannot have emotions for something you have never thought about and the thought process begins with the brain. There are situations when we should go by our heart and should not involve our brain. For example, in love, there should not be any involvement of our practical mind. On the other hand, there are situations when our feelings need to be put aside. For instance, business cannot be done if we choose to go by our heart. And there are situations when a balance is required between both. Therefore, both the brain and heart play a crucial role in decision making. So, the need is to combine our thoughts and emotions so that our actions never go wrong.