Head Or Heart – How to Decide?

Katie’s parents were doctors and she was their only child.  Despite their lavish life-style Katie was level-headed, down to earth and very creative.  Right from childhood she had passion for music and arts, and also excelled at academics, with chemistry and biology being her favorite subjects.  She was one of those rare all-rounders.  But with both parents being doctors, they wanted Katie to pursue a career in medicine.  They felt that her academic excellence in science would be wasted if she pursued anything else, and saw other careers as not being lucrative in the long run.  So, Katie was undecided about how to move forward.

The dilemma of whether she should listen to her heart or to her parents was tearing her apart.  She was at a crossroads. Many of us face this sort of situation at some point in our lives. What is the appropriate thing to do? “Go with your heart ” is the common advice that we hear.  What does that actually mean?  Everyone that has been in love knows that the heart’s voice fluctuates every now and then.  Growing up we have fallen in and out of love a few times.  Sometimes we have been relieved and sometimes  hurt when things did not work out.  How do we know that going with the heart is the right decision?

If we observe our state carefully we find that whenever we are undecided the mind is wrought with confusion.  External inputs and advice from parents, siblings and friends often adds to the confusion rather than bringing clarity.  And then one day you are very relaxed and then, boom!, the fog of confusion clears up, like the dark cloud opening up to bring in sunshine and you know what to do.  It is as if it was right under our nose all this while and we could not see it.  We feel like fools and we wish we could have arrived at this sooner.

So, is there a recipe for decision making?  Because the voice of the head and heard are practically indistinguishable.  Opportunities could pass by while we wait for that one clear and decisive voice to pierce through the fog of confusion.  One thing to understand is that our life in this body is time bound. So we have to invest our life energies into something that is meaningful to us.  If we look ahead ten to fifteen years or even a lifetime and see what we are about embark on is worth the time and the effort, contributes to the community at large and leaves behind some kind of a legacy, then perhaps it is worth moving forward in that direction.

Next time you are faced with this type of life decision, see if this decision will enhance your life in some way and create something of value to you and to the people around you.  If the answer is a resounding “Yes”, then the decision becomes self evident.  All the turmoil only happens when we are thinking on a limited scale.  But when we enlarge the scope of the impact, things seem to automatically fall in place.  That is how existence works, and when we are tune with it, there is nothing but a clear road ahead.