Sometimes The Heart Lies

Initially this (Sometimes the heart lies) was the title of a Chart-Topping, Award-winning hit I composed a few weeks back - a hit that would see me step out of a glitzy black Limo at the Grammys and scoop countless Awards for my musical savvy... Followed by interviews on all the top TV and Radio talk shows...

I can see you rolling your eyes. Unfortunately,after 4 verses, a chorus and loads of coffee, I still haven't found an attention-grabbing melody for the song, so I guess my dreams of fame will have to wait...However, the one good thing that did come out of the whole song-writing exercise was that it inspired this post.

"Sometimes the heart lies" is a concept I came up with as I reflected on some of the most catastrophic mistakes of my life, mistakes I made simply because I foolishly applied someone's well-meaning advice to "follow my heart."

While "feeling our way through life" can make us more loving, more sensitive and ultimately more humane, it can also be quite disastrous if pushed to the extremes.

What if we "feel" like committing murder?
What if we "feel" like robbing a bank?
What if we "feel" like snatching someone else's spouse?

Well,Jeremiah declares "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" in the Biblical book of Jeremiah 17 v 9(KJV)

Simply put: sometimes the heart will insist that something wrong is right, and that something destructive will be beneficial to you.

Don't get me wrong, the heart is a wonderful thing,expertly designed to help us love, be spontaneous and experience passion. Without it, we would simply go through life without any real feeling or fulfillment.

However, if the heart is left to its own devices,that is when we see people committing violent crimes of passion, holding innocent individuals hostage, breaking up other people's families and abusing children.Those are the effects of a heart that is out of control.

Then we have the mind, which processes information, analyses facts, solves problems and comes up with fresh ideas - a Super computer, if I may say so myself. But, alone,the mind is like a machine - efficient but cold, unfeeling and directionless.

So how do we strike a balance?

1. When making a decision,feelings alone should never be the determining factor. Instead, personal values and principles should be the standard. I remember a time when I was absolutely convinced that a certain guy was "the one" for me. He later turned out to be a serial womanizer who was actually married to some unlucky lady.

2. Consult others - preferably people who are objective and whose opinion you trust. Getting someone else's perspective can open your eyes to issues you were not aware of.

3. Trust your instincts, which were ingeniously created to protect you from harm. No matter how tempting the business deal,or how hot the guy or girl, don't ignore your inner voice when it tells you that danger is lurking somewhere. Listening to your gut can make the difference between life and death.

4. Feel with your heart, but use your head too. Learn to balance emotion with reason. It will save you a whole lot of drama which belongs in the script of some cheesy Soap Opera. You don't wanna end up in jail, or dead, or just plain humiliated.

Instead of letting your feelings run riot and yank you around like a dog on leash, take control of the situation. YOU need to be in the Driver's seat, with your feelings in tow - not the other way around.

Finally: Live, laugh,love and let your heart follow YOU!!!

Picture courtesy of allposters.com