Why You Should Always Follow Your Heart Rather Than Your Mind
Did you know that the subconscious part of your brain is 30,000 times more powerful than the conscious one?
Let's briefly review about how the brain works. The brain can be divided into three parts: the reptilian brain, the limbic brain and the cortex brain.
The reptilian brain is the part of the brain responsible for our survival. It is the part of the brain that makes us fall asleep when our body needs rest. It's responsible for making us breathe without having to actively think about it.
In other words, the reptilian brain is responsible for all of those functions that we do not take care of in a conscious way. It could be said that the reptilian brain's main mission is to make stay us alive as long as possible.
The limbic brain is probably the more complicated part of our brain. This part of our brains is responsible for our successes and failures; the limbic brain also governs our emotions. It makes us take the left path instead of the right when we arrive at a crossroad.
The limbic brain allows us to make decisions simply because we have a good gut feeling. It is the part of the brain responsible of our attitudes, our way of being and facing life.
Next, we find the cortex brain. As its name suggests, this is the part of the brain made by the cerebral cortex; it is responsible for conscious thoughts. It allows us to retain memories, dates and knowledge.
The cortex brain is our best ally during final exams; it helps us succeed in our years of schooling. We spend our youth developing this part of the brain, as we try to solve problems analytically, analyzing the pros and cons of each situation in order to come to a conclusion.
Now that you're somewhat familiar with the brain, you should also know that we learn 95 percent of the things we know in the first three years of lives and 98 percent by age 12. From the age of 12 on, 25,000 neurons die daily.
All this information is great, but why am I giving you a lesson on the brain, you ask?
As I said before, the limbic part of the brain is the one that makes people succeed or fail in life. This brain is in charge of our attitudes. Cultivating and developing attitudes is the key to success in anything.
You can be a genius in mathematics, finance, physics, whatever. However, if people don't like you, or if you are afraid of challenges or only focus on the negative, you will fail in almost everything you do.
Intuition is a part of our minds we cannot control and that tells us exactly what is going to happen next. It is the voice in our head that tells us when we have to sell or buy stock. It tells us when we are in front of a good deal, or when we are with the person we want to spend the rest of our lives with.
It is impossible to analyze in detail all situations. Life is unpredictable and anything can happen. The lesson here is to stop overthinking and to just let things happen. Listen to your instincts.
Listen to your heart, not to your head -- although, it would be more correct to say listen to your limbic brain, not to your cortex brain.
As Steve Jobs once said, “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Photo Courtesy: We Heart It
