The Heart Or The Mind: Part 1

Pat Morita, in his role as Nariyoshi Miyagi, had given Daniel-san an advice which, he said would apply on all aspects of his life. That advice was to find balance in life. He said that all of life, with each and every part of it had balance. And one must be able to find it, to find peace, stability and success in life. "Find the Balance", were his exact words, which he had uttered in his incredibly adorable Japanese accent. And those words were, and still are one of the truest and most helpful pieces of advice movies have ever given us. And that advice is the answer to our titular question. The key to deciding whether one must follow their heart or their brain is to find balance in our decision-making process.

Our millennial generation, in my honest opinion, has become so blindly inclined towards following their hearts, that following their brains and all its instincts has almost been given a negative stigma. It's either that, or vice-versa. And this, I see as being one of the main reasons behind unhappiness, and increasing mental health issues amongst our youth. Those who chose to blindly follow their heart, find themselves messed up, unorganized, and unhappy of the position, not using their grey-matter has led them into. And those who chose to always follow their minds, find themselves too afraid to take risks, unhappy and unsatisfied, and always in envy of the people that took risks and made it big. Therefore, we can conclude that to be successful in life one must be able to make the best of both worlds. And to maintain the perfect balance between following one's heart and following one's mind, we must first settle upon a clear distinction between what qualifies as following one's mind and what, as following one's heart.

To understand the fine and precise line between the two modes of decision-making, let us take into consideration, a man who had his heart broken by a woman he had dearly loved, for the woman had decided to look for someone more worthy of her love. Let us for the sake of understanding better, say that they had been with each other for a couple of years, and thought the woman hadn't cared much of the bond they had had, the man had been in deep and poetic love with her. So much so, that he had begged and pleaded to the woman to stay with him, vowing to change and become the man she wanted him to be. But she had refused and ended their two-year long relationship in a way that had left the man traumatized, scarred and weeping. Following the breakup, the man had suffered from insomnia, depression and anxiety. He had contemplated suicide and was on the verge of ending it all, when he had decided to opt for therapy. He had then gone to a therapist and had started having regular weekly sessions.

And within a few months,he had managed to put his life back together, kick away his suicidal tendencies, and live a healthy and happy life, albeit the scars he had received from the heartbreak. Everything started going smoothly again, and he was back on track for a few months, until one day, the wicked damsel who had broken his tender and loving heart turned up on his doorstep, crying. She told him, that it was a mistake that she had committed by ending their relationship, and that she had experienced nothing but betrayal by everyone else she had dated. She was now in the same position, he had been in a few months ago. She offered him, another go at their relationship, and begged him to patch-up with her. At this point, he had two options: he could either ask her to leave, gratified with what karma had done to her, with his now wiser mind clear on never getting back together with this woman again. But, another part of him, told him to let go of all angst he had towards her, and to get back together with the woman he had shared countless blissful moments together with. Here, in a completely rational point of view, it would be stupid to give that betraying, heartless devil of a woman another chance. This type of a decision could be called that, which one's brain would want them to take. But, the woman you had once dreamed of having children with was now ready to be back with you again. How could you deny her? This, could be called the decision, one's heart would want them to take.

What would you have done?
Part-2 will be up tonight.