24 October 2022

My thought this week is again probably a continuation of what I have said recently about anger and self-control. But it is actually really a continuation of what I have said previously regarding the difference between the brain and the mind.
The brain is more logical than the mind, which is more emotional. This is an important distinction. For example, the biggest decisions that we make in life, like where we live, what we do, who we choose as spouse, partner or significant other, are emotional ones, not always logical ones.
I heard someone once say that we are not just one person with one brain, but that we have three different parts of our brain controlling us – the ‘logical’ part, the ‘emotional’ part and a ‘computer’ part, which we use as a storage area for memory reference.
Therefore, we should not be surprised if the logical part of our brain and the emotional side of our mind are often in conflict, because they can sometimes have very different views on things. They also can both independently run our lives for us, if you think about it.
It is too easy to emotionally jump to a wrong conclusion that we rationalise as being logical. Many say that rationality is only logic being applied, but rationality is often emotionally intuitive, so this can then fly in the face of the evidence. We have all heard of warped logic!
Our logical and emotional sides are often at war with each other. But overall, they must work together as a team, as if they don’t, it usually spells disaster, as they then just act as polar opposites continually. This can be destructive (remember what I said about anger and self-control?)
Logic is also not just common sense or rationality. For example, logic tells us that if somebody wins, somebody must then lose. But the best outcome often in any situation is where there is a ‘win:win’ scenario, which then defies logic!
There is also no point trying to use logic if dealing with other people’s emotions. And always delay a bit for your logical side to take over from your emotional side before you respond. Also, try to notice your emotions, rather than just brushing them aside or just rationalising them.
Finally, I also heard someone say once that your emotional side is 5 times quicker than your logical side to react to something, but, a pre-programmed logical memory is actually 20 times as fast to react to something (i.e. the logical side can sometimes be quicker than your emotional side).
So, this week, try to notice the difference between your brain and your mind. And try to notice when you think that you are being logical, but are really being emotional, or think that you are being emotional, but are really being logical. You may be surprised!




