Head or Heart?

When I told Ashlyn today's question, she immediately answered with heart.  I follow my heart instead of listening to my head.  I would agree.
It is funny to think of how different my life would be if I had listened to my head back in 1989.  Crazy to think there was much good to come out of the marriage of an eighteen year old and a twenty year old.  There wasn't a statistic to support it.  Add a baby the following year, another two years later and a third two years after that.  Stupidity at its finest if you asked most logical people.  But lucky for us, we weren't particularly logical people. 
My heart said yes.  I would stop to think about what I was doing every once in a while and when I did, I realized that I didn't know what I was doing.  I had no idea what was coming my way but I knew that I loved him.  Eight months after I married the guy, I knew that I loved the baby I was carrying.  But I still didn't know how it was all going to work.  I didn't know but I had the belief, the faith in us.  Danny had even more faith as I was sure we would break this baby that was coming, he knew we would do just fine.
Maybe it was because we lived in an unpredictable culture that it made it easier to listen to our hearts over our heads.  Maybe we just weren't mature enough to think things through.  I don't know if it matters to me because we worked. 
The article that I am getting my questions from says that the brain can lie, the heart can't.  The mind likes a process and the heart just is.  The brain weighs the pros and cons, which is not a bad thing, but it can stop us from taking risks.  The heart knows the way to happiness. 
When I was in seventh or eighth grade, Sister Irene would always advise us to go with our first answer.  That piece of advice has stayed with me for thirty years and I return to that gem all the time.  I think my first answer springs from my heart, or my gut, more often than not.  The longer I have to mull something over, the more likely I am to doubt myself.  And I think we have all come to realize that I have my shit together so the doubting part isn't really helpful. 
Any earlier question talked about being open and I think this includes being open to what my heart has to say.  My brain is busy storing the years of advice, comments and criticisms of the world.  It is eager to throw bits and pieces out at me when my heart is gently tugging at me, wanting to express how I really feel. 
And the funny thing is, my heart tells me that I don't love my job, that I am not happy there and my brain reminds me that I am 44, that my pay is good, that I have money in stocks and a 401K.  And I ignore my heart because my brain has me shaking in my good for my feet sneakers.  Sister Irene admonishes me for not going with my first answer.  But I am not a thrill seeker, I don't bungee jump off bridges, I certainly don't walk away from a job.  My brain says.  My heart sniffles a little at the sadness of it all. 


Maybe I am getting somewhere with these 10 questions.