“Follow Your Heart.”
What does this mean to you as a piece of advice for you? When was the last time you ‘follow your heart’?
📸 A playful moment I usually refrain from sharing on professional platforms, lest I’m judged. Today, I follow my heart!
“Follow your heart.”
When someone tells you to “follow your heart” in moments of uncertainty, how do you respond?
Or perhaps you’ve offered this advice to someone who felt lost?
Wise or useless?
A scenario used in a highly interactive session led by Linda Heng in a deep-tech incubator & accelerator programme by A*StartCentral, in which I was honoured to be a coach, inspired this introspection in me.
Here’s a slightly modified version of the scenario (for the sake of keeping it short and concise in my key message) for context:
"There were 4 people on a boat in a stormy night: a sailor, a girl, her boyfriend, and an old man.
When the boat capsized, the boyfriend was thrown overboard. The girl begged the sailor to save him.
The sailor agreed - if she promised to sleep with him afterward. Distraught, she turned to the old man for advice.
'I can’t tell you what’s right or wrong for you,” he said. “Follow your heart and do what is right to you.'"
“𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 and do what is right for you”.
I wonder how people view this ‘advice’ from the old man? I randomly polled for opinions within my circle of friends.
Some called it unhelpful - too neutral in a moment of crisis.
Others saw it as empowering, judgment-free.
I see this as someone speaking from his wisdom of life.
I see that the old man understood that in her moment of turmoil, ‘advice’ was the last thing the girl needed. She needed space to decide for herself without judgment. She needed to be supported to do so.
But following your heart?
Not always easy. How often we feel obliged to do what we think is ‘right’, or worse – what OTHERS believe are ‘right’, than following our hearts?
How often do we leap to offer advice when empathy and quiet support would mean so much more?
And mind you, following your heart doesn’t mean dismissing reason.
𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲. 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝.
And in some situations, who are we to judge right from wrong.
When was the last time you “follow your heart”?