Do you follow your heart or do you follow your head?

[Azuteor]

I think it could go both ways, but I tend to follow my head than my heart. I've been told by many of my friends that I'm an old man who plays chess with life. I'm not saying that it's particularly true, but I do understand where they are coming from. Whenever I'm faced with some sort of obstacle, I plan out my options and figure out what would be the best decision to make. I'm always in my head thinking about a lot of things. (e.g life, friends, family, school, etc.) If I make one wrong move, I fix it, and try something else.

When it comes to the heart, I find that this is where I have the most trouble. In some cases, there are those who let their feelings cloud their reasoning and end up making the wrong decisions.

What do you guys think? Do you listen to your heart or do you listen to your head?

Hopefully, luck will be on my side this time and gather comments on a thread I made, haha.

[Xanatos]

Both, each one is pretty much useful depending on circumstances and situation you find your self in. But I chose to follow my head more than my heart, following my heart has lead me to some wrong decisions and stupid mistakes which I could prevented if I was thinking rationally and logically with my head. But that didn't stooped me, I still solve some problems by following my heart.

[Yesha]

It depends on the situation I guess..

For instance, there's a situation.. that I have to choose between two things.. I aLways make sure that I think about the consequence/s I wiLL get for choosing that or the other or rather the advantages.. aLso.. I wouLd never pick a thing that I reaLLy don't Like nor I don't reaLLy feeLing doing so..

so, I think both.. we need to foLLow our heart and head/mind :-)

[Freya]

I'd also say that it depends on the situation. And I think I can even explain what I mean. ^^

I'm surely following my heart when it comes to friends, family and love. There is no way to be led by your head when it comes to love. When I was deeply in love a while ago, I tried to think rational and this is what I came up with: "Everything you feel is stupid. He's not even the type of person you like. He's got some bad attitudes and there is NO WAY you could love him." But my heart said otherwise. I listened to my heart, although it was broken by that person XD" But I think that's the best example. If I'd listened to my head, I wouldn't have been experiencing that great feeling of love.
Another example: Family. When my brother felt down and was crying a week ago (why does that stuff happen a lot recently? XD"), I also tried to think about what to do. I didn't find any solution. When I let my heart lead me, it was quite easy. My heart said something like: "Hug him, let him feel you, so that he knows he's not alone." I don't think my head would've told me that in years. .-."

On the other hand, I tend to follow my head in situations like work or school. So perhaps I'll have some examples for you again. XD (I surely have <<")
First off: Work. That's pretty easy to explain. How can you follow your heart at work? XD" Okay, there are a few relationships at work, but they are few, as I said. When working, I need a system of my work and I really think about what I'm doing. I could also follow my heart, then I'd probably talk to the other people more and make more breaks. .-." But as this is unproductive... well, I won't do it. xD"
Secondly: School. I remember those times when I was asked "Freya, could you stay at school an hour longer and explain math to me?" (that happened quite often, to be honest XD"). Haha, sure. I really LOVE TO help you out. -_-" Well, at least, at the beginning I followed my heard that said: "Help them, they'll return the favor." They didn't. So I changed my way and told them that I couldn't stay longer. Or that I wanted to have my break (they wanted me to help them in break, too, yes <.<"). I'd have been very very tired if I'd helped them out every time they asked me. In those situations you have to follow your head that says that you need a break and that they're just using you to get better marks.

So... I'm inbetween, always changing which of the two to follow x3"

[Dodie16]

I am very in tune with my emotions, so listening to my "heart" does have importance when it comes to decisions in my life. However, I am also careful to think things through before taking action, especially when it comes to conflict. (Does that sound contradictory? oops...) Sometimes this is a good thing, other times it isn't. I do tend to "overthink" about things, and when I do, I usually wind up missing out on a lot of great stuff because I have talked myself into not following through with what I'm feeling (relationships as an example). Such is the way of my personality, I suppose. I am learning to go ahead and follow through with what I'm feeling at the time and not think about it so much (to certain degrees).

[OceanEyes28]

I follow my ovaries.






But um... head, heart, gut, genitals.... whatever it is that might be influencing my decisions during my various life situations, I like to think I have a balance overall. But that could be one of my body parts talking (probably gut, but we had cookies tonight, so she's being a little defensive).

I admit to being an optimist and very romantic, in spite of the generous amount of time I devote to rationalizing a situation. I pretend to be heady (what?), but I know not-so-deep down, I am rather... (like a) hearty (lumberjack).

Ah heh.

[Che]

I follow my ovaries.

Whoa, me too!

Just kidding. Creepy.

Anyway. When a situation arises where you could follow either your heart or instinct or whatever, or you could think it through, chances are you should think it through if you want to play it safe. If you like getting adventurous or being spontaneous at all, you might want to never think about what consequences are and just go for it. It's all how you want to live your life. Sometimes I'll choose the "crazy" route with less thinking, but I'd rather not most of the time.

[RagnaToad]

A man is always half a liter of blood short.

Either it's up there, or down there.

With that out of the way, I'm a pretty rational guy. Feelings are always part of a decision you make. Either it influences your judgment, or you overcompensate thinking 'I hope my feelings aren't getting in the way'. Unless it's a this-way-or-that-way decision.

[Ragtime]

I would say I follow my head much more than my heart, meaning I'll make a choice which pays off more than it pleases me. I feel I am a gambler by nature which, in my opinion is following your head irrationally (which sort of contradicts itself), by valuing the rewards more than the losses of decisions. Maybe that's why I have never won at monopoly.

[Jeordam]

not long after I first signed up with this site. So I've been thinking about this question for a bit now.

For me, whether I listen to my heart or my head (emotions vs. logic), completely depends on the situation. But either way....I use one to temper the other. If one goes completely logical, then the emotional attributes will be missed, underappreciated, or simply ignored. This is not always an advantage, and can actually lead to some dissadvantages.

The reverse is also true. Following one's passions, can also lead one to make decisions which (upon retrospect) may not have been the wisest at the time. Some matters should be approached without passion, and simply from a logical point of view...else you could get swept up in the moment.

Being a huge Star Trek fan, the two people's that come to mind which would greatly characterize this scenerio would be that of the Vulcans & the Klingons. The vulcans, as you know, are logical and typically make sound decisions...however their rigid adherance to logic makes them ill equipped to do certain things (ship's counsilor) or even some command decisions. Likewise, the Klingons are ruled by their passions...for battle, honor, pleasure, whatever. They typically go in gun's blazing and let their emotions run their decision making process.

Instead we, as humans, have the capacity to use elements from both to make our decisions. I would say that this is when someone makes their best decisions...with the logical and emotional sides of one's personality working in concert. At least....that's what I think.

~Jeordam

[Ryu-Kentoshii Hirokima]

I follow my Heart, but sometimes I follow my Head instead. I don't really know why, but yeah, thats just what I do. It is always good to follow your Heart, and do the Right things, for the Right Reasons. Always remember to just be yourself, and follow what you think is right...Just make sure that what you think is Right isn't actually Bad...LOL
Thats my Opinion. Anyway, Happy Posting

[Pete]

I feel like it can be both for me, a lot of times.

I'll know what I have to do, but that sense of duty comes from my heart. It's like I mentally know that I'll be emotionally upset if I don't do what I have to or am supposed to do.

In terms of decisions, I feel like I use my head more than anything. I'll go with what choice seems the most logical, or what is most urgent.

When it comes to relationships, I tend to follow my heart. My brain can scream "BAD ****ING IDEA! THIS GIRL IS BAD NEWS!" and I'll try to convince myself otherwise. Brain 15- Heart 2 (if that)

[Unknown Entity]

Like many of you have said, it does depend on the situation. I wouldn't follow my heart at work, unless what I was doing was something creative or somewhat messy. I wouldn't follow my head as much when it comes to love for my family or friends, even though it's probably important to do so at some points. I like using a mixture of both the majority of the time.

I find that people who follow their hearts too much end up a bit dippy and happy-go-lucky, whereas people who follow their heads all the time tend to be pretty stuck up and arrogant.

[cbchick]

depends on the situation for me. at times im found following my head and at other times im found following my heart. i think there are certain times where you need to look deep down and listen to your heart. i do think most people tend to follow their head more than there heart. To me, there are times when i did indeed follow my head when i should've followed my heart. i dont regret it or anything, i just learned from my mistake and know how to handle it if it happens again.

[Gilgamesh2000]

Since both your mind and your heart are one I follow my soul or also known as my instincts, like an animal but who cares right? I use my mind to critically think certain events through to even the smallest detail and plan ahead. I use my heart to weigh and judge the consequences if any from my choices of my mind. My instincts are what I would have to follow.

[Alice]

A bit of both. Say there is something that I believe I should do. My heart tells me I should go for it but my mind says otherwise, telling me it's not worth it, plus a few reasons as to why.

The heart usually ends up winning the battle though.

In my opinion, it's somewhat a good thing we have these two conflicting 'thoughts', as there would probably be some trouble if we all only followed one way. Or maybe that's just me.

[Reverend Red Mage]

I can't really follow either one; they're both organs.
But if the question is meant to be taken figuratively, I guess a different answer is in order.

I don't follow my heart for the simple reason that my "heart" and my "head" are one in the same. The notion that the heart and mind are two distinctly different emotion-governing entities is foolish at best. With any situation you come across, you think it through and take the appropriate course of action based upon your assessment. Whether said action has more to do with empathy or reason depends entirely upon the kind of person you are.

And in many cases, either choice would have been right.