3. Never Go with Your Heart 

Emotions get the best of everyone sometimes. 

Most of the times our feelings are spontaneous and involuntary. That usually means they happen automatically and reflexively, like a knee-jerk response. Emotions make us feel helpless and hopeless. Emotions not only impact our well-being but also undermine or harm our decision-making.

Happy, exciting, and great moments can interfere with decision making. And many find themselves unable to find emotional stability.

Anytime a person acts before they think, it can become difficult to control emotions. Emotions that run high or are intense may not always enable us to be mindful. Overwhelming emotions can summon reasoning to regulate our wishes and thoughts. 

Not many years ago, there was an unusual news item in a Portuguese newspaper. A man had stolen a watch and he was being prosecuted in the lower court. 

The young lawyer who was fighting the case for the thief was very enthusiastic and fought vigorously with all the required skill.

Moments before the judge was to deliver the judgment which was certain to be in the favor of the thief the most touching human drama was enacted in the court.

The thief, watching the sheer determination of his lawyer, broke down in the court and said, “Sir, I am deeply moved the way you have fought my case. I have nothing more valuable than this watch to offer you.”

He took out the watch and offered it to his lawyer. The judge was stunned and delivered a very long judgment. 

Lastly the thief was let out.

Really, we are all the same. With all the theories of uniqueness, we are often told, there is absolutely no difference. So, we must be very cautious about our attitudes towards people of shady characters. They are not necessarily the men they enact, out of necessity or otherwise.

And in this age when inequality rules the world the demarcation line is almost invisible. A petty thief is punished whereas high officials and so-called people’s representatives swindle away crores of rupees, unnoticed. 

There’s a saying, ‘go with your heart, but take your head with you’.