Remember when you were a little kid and your mom or dad would read you a bedtime story? Did they ever read you the fable about the tortoise and the hare? They probably did, but just in case here is a summary:

The tortoise and the hare were getting ready to run a race. After the race started, the hare realized that he was way ahead of the tortoise and decided that he would still win the race even if he took a little breather; after all the tortoise was no where in sight. Well he ended up taking to many breaks and lost the race to the tortoise. The tortoise, however, did not win the race simply because the hare was over confident. He won the race because of his persistence and perseverance.

Ok, granted, I may be reading more into this story now that I am adult, but I think it has a good point. Which leads me to my actual point.

You have a heart and a mind. And if you're a normal human being, your heart has most likely been broken in one way or another, or even a combination of the two. And if you're like me you're all heart and have to force yourself to listen to your mind to make sure everything stays in a sensible order. Then there are people that think too much with their mind and not enough with their heart. These people could stand to let their emotions reign a smidge more and let their thoughts take a hike.

I am at a place in my life where my heart wants to take me to a fairyland and get my emotions and hopes up. This is bad because it would be doing so under false pretenses. My mind on the other hand realizes this and tells my heart to let go, not think about it, and move on. I always kid and say I have two halves: the hopeless dreamer and the realistic thinker. So you're probably thinking right now, 'why the heck did she tell us a kid's story?' 'What the heck does that have to do with anything?' Let me explain:

Let's say the hare is the realistic thinker in all of us and the tortoise is the hopeless dreamer.

Our hearts all live, breath, and eat emotions and love; our minds live, breath, and eat common sense. When life happens and things get tuff, our minds can come to terms with the situation a lot faster than our hearts can. Our hearts are still hoping against hope. They need more time to breath and feel the situation, while our minds think about it, process it, and move on. Our hearts, however, have been (whether we like it or not) indelibly marked by whatever the situation. Therefore, we need our mind (the hare) to take a break so our hearts (the tortoise) can catch up. And our hearts (the tortoise) needs to continue to try and realize where the mind (the hare) is coming from. The mind is just naturally faster than the heart.

So you see, we need to give and take-- think about something, then let yourself feel. Yes, listen to your heart, but don't get annoyed when your mind is trying to help too. Learn to ping them off of each other; get them in sync, as much as possible. Don't get frustrated when your heart is slowly realizing what your mind has known for awhile. And don't get mad when your mind seems to ignore your heart. Let your mind take a break, like the hare, and let your heart keep fighting... like the tortoise.