Logic and feelings feel like two siblings that are constantly fighting and bickering with one another. I remember fighting one of my older brothers when I was a little girl. When he would poke fun at me or make shady comments, I would cry, and then sometimes we would fight. I would try to rub his face deep into the carpet, but ultimately his strength and age would always overpower me! Darn, you brother.

One time he pissed me off so much that I swore. “F*%&$ you!,” I boldly proclaimed. My emotions clearly overruled the logic that I would get in huge trouble. I said it again, “F*%&$ you!” This time, however, no brawl ensued. He simply said, “Oh, so you want to swear now?”

Calmly, he walked out of the room in what I thought was defeat and I proudly proceeded to watch my afternoon cartoons. Next thing I know the phone rang twice. First, it was my mother calling from work, and then it was the pastor’s wife! That little sneak left the room to call them, not to cry as I initially thought!  Let’s just say I got in BIG trouble when my mother got home. I cried many tears that night and the next Sunday I had to go up and ask Jesus to come into my heart for the fifth time in my young life!

The annoying feeling of bickering with a sibling is what the tension between logic and emotion feels like, to me at least. Life happens, questions arise, doubt raises its ugly little head, and we have to determine whether we will use logic or emotion to move forward.

Hurdles are an excellent example of logic versus emotions. I remember having to do the hurdles during track and field tryouts in high school. It was interesting, to say the least. You are running full speed ahead, see the hurdle right in front of you, and need to make a decision to jump over it. An experienced hurdler knows that proper execution relies very little on emotion but rather on three factors: (1) accurately counting the steps in between hurdles, (2) powering over the hurdle with the use of speed and momentum, and (3) proper running form in between and over hurdles.

Ready, set, go: 1-2-3-4-5 OVER…1-2-3 OVER…1-2-3 OVER…1-2-3 OVER… The hurdles race requires the runner to focus on their steps and technique rather than on trying to anticipate jumping over the hurdle. I am sure that with more training I would have become a very good hurdler. However, during the first auditions in practice, I stutter-stepped before each hurdle and jumped over each one with flailed arms and wild legs. Let’s just say that the hurdles never became my main event. I was better at sticking to sprinting without the hurdles being there to slow me down.

Sometimes my logic dominates my emotions, and in other cases, my emotions overrule my logic. In general, I cannot say one way is better than the other without considering the situation. In some cases, logic should overrule emotions and in other instances, we should be more emotional. The key to life is knowing which one should dominate in any given situation and then being able to listen to the appropriate one.

Logic versus emotions may play out in the following ways:

• Sometimes you may have to trust your experience and logic, and at other times you may have to let your experience go and step out on a limb.
• Other times, you may have to overcome your initial emotional responses and rely on systematic logic.
• In other cases, you may have to completely throw away logic and pray that your gut emotional response is worth trusting.
• From time to time, you might have to rely on both logic and emotions in order to navigate a situation.
• And in certain cases, trusting any ounce of either logic or emotions will seem impossible, in which case I personally rely on the spiritual.

Logic and emotions like to fight and bicker within us. Unlike my fights with my brother, it is not always clear which side will win. I always lost, but in real life logic and emotions don’t always win or lose. Thankfully, as I got older the fighting with my brother decreased and we became siblings that have each other’s back when necessary. We need to train our emotions and logic to interact more like partners in crime than like warring children.

A great partnership between both logic and emotions can make us unstoppable even in the face of the tallest hurdles.

Logic versus emotions will never be a black-and-white dilemma. One thing is for sure: whether the situation requires more logic or more emotion, it is important to not slow down as we approach the hurdles of life. Momentum, momentum, momentum! Trusting our ability to generate enough power to make it over the hurdle(s) is just as important as trusting that we will be able to decide whether to use our emotions or our logic in any given situation.

In reality, we need a little of both: enough logic to conclude that our experience and technique, if well executed, with not fail us and enough emotion to feel and use the power we possess to overcome any hurdle that lies ahead of us.