Logic vs Feeling vs Instinct

[Evil Bunny of Doom]

So, I've been wondering, what do you guys base your actions on. Do you always do what's logic and rational? Do you let your feelings take over? Or do you follow that inner voice that tells you to do or not do stuff.

 

I've personally been a fan of logic for as long as I can remember, believe it or not (I don't really seem like it). I've always been the kind of person to overthink before doing something, taking into consideration tons of different variables and how a decision of mine could affect the rest of my life and other people. However, being the not-so-stable person I am, my kind of 'logic' is, er..., unique, to put it nicely. Still, I do try my best to keep myself in check to the best of my ability and rarely let my feelings take over. Now, don't get me wrong. It's not like I don't have feelings. I do, I just rarely act on them (because every time I did, things got messy ).

 

I am aware that this kind of behavior of mine is not very healthy... I mean, if people were not supposed to act the way they feel then they wouldn't feel in the first place. But even so, I have trained myself to not act out. This may sound weird or wrong but honestly, it saves me the trouble of getting into pointless fights drama. It's actually hard to achieve such a level of suppression... but I have done that. It keeps everyone happy, I seem like a little angel to everyone and in my head I have murdered people in 9227 different ways (yes, my politeness is usually fake). Like I mentioned above, I am not the most stable person, and I find this way of dealing with thing the best as I tend to er... get kinda destructive if I let my feelings get the better of me.

 

Lately, though, I have been trying to do something different. And that is leaving aside what's supposedly right and what I'm supposedly feeling and doing what my gut tells me to do. Wanna hear my results? Insticts never fail. Logic does. Feelings do even more. But that nagging sensation in your lower tummy ain't let you down. It's a bit like Jack Sparrow's compass. It guides you to what you REALLY want and what's REALLY good for you (even if that's just pizza). You may be thinking this now: And how the frickity fruk am I gonna decide what to do if I do not have any sort of gut feeling?

 

THAT'S THE POINT...

 

YOU DON'T DECIDE...

 

YOU JUST DO

 

You can 'train' youself to be more perceptive of your inner instics...by following them. You may think this is a waste of time... but it's not. I admit I have no idea if this works for everyone to be frank.... but it does for me, sometimes in pretty awesome ways.

 

 

here's a nice article to strart ou (yes, I am into this stuff http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2009/12/how-to-recognize-your-intuitive-modality/

 

 

So if I had to choose which is more accurate, I'd go with instics and that's that. I have started believing that people are constantly screwing up and getting hurt because they ignore them. Animals don't. Animals are happy that way

[Xyro]

I always go with my instincts. The thing is, if you follow your instincts, even if they are wrong, at least you did what you felt was the right thing to do, and therefore you never regret your decision (IMO)

[Frost]

I always go with my instincts. The thing is, if you follow your instincts, even if they are wrong, at least you did what you felt was the right thing to do, and therefore you never regret your decision (IMO)

This should be like, something to live by. For everyone~

 

I would say for the most part I go with guts, but there are certain circumstances in my life where I tend to over think things and try to go with "logic." I guess it depends on who it is, what it is, ect.

 

I feel like I can be a very emotional person, so sometimes I do just tend to fly off the handle and go with feelings rather than logic. Maybe that's what makes me so awkward.

[IntoMyWorld]

Feels like someone started pokemom go and then had a exestential crisis when tasked with choosing a team

[Optic]

Interesting topic @Evil Bunny of Doom.

 

They kind of tug at each other like a triangle don't they?

• Feelings include passion and drive
  
• Instincts include having initiative as well as being proactive
  
• Logic includes being efficient with workflows
  

I'm leaning towards logic as my main driver as often I have to think in a systematic way when it comes to IT work. But needless to say there is definitely overlap across all three in most situations.

[Evil Bunny of Doom]

Feels like someone started pokemom go and then had a exestential crisis when tasked with choosing a team

I didn't realise the teams were based on this until much later tbh

 

(just for the record: Mystic = Logic Valor = Feelings Instict = well, it's obvious... I'm Mystic btw but only cause I like blue )

 

I'm leaning towards logic as my main driver as often I have to think in a systematic way when it comes to IT work. .

ah, I can't really comment on how things work out while on a job cause I don't have experience with that... I have a feeling though, stuff gets more complicated there

In my case, my slight obssession with logic is quite a drag cause art and logic don't fit well together... even my teachers say I should losen up ;-;

 

But needless to say there is definitely overlap across all three in most situations.

but they never seem to coordinate properly, do they?

[Kohloo]

I'm very emotionally driven. A lot of the time (most of the time....) I don't stop to think or slow down, I just react or do based on what I'm feeling in that moment. It's, uh, a bit....well, it can be called chaotic, especially considering my mood changes quite frequently.

[RyePotatoes]

Hmmmm Feelings sucks at picking out or making decisions since it usually gets in the way of dealing with things. Instincts on the other hand doesn't come in handy all of the time and sometimes can be influenced by your feelings. Logic is where I'm heading at but sometimes I tend to disagree with my logic. Welp. I am a troubled person after all. :crazy:>_<

Edited September 11, 2016 by Guest

[brycec]

I would probably lean more logical. There are things I do not want to do, but will, if necessary, and I tend to look at how involved something would be.

 

Not all of decisions are logical, but they certainly are not usually without reason.

[Cy~]

I'm a blend of all three, to be honest with you.

 

My emotions drive what I care about, my instincts inform my tactics, and my strategies are fed by cold, hard logic.

 

However, I'm good at explaining almost everything as a sequence of logical steps, though, regardless of whether or not it makes sense. Based on this, I think that people that don't know me would be inclined to say logic. However, I personally recognize that logic is just a tool in a toolbox that includes many things.

 

Actually, here's a thought - how can logic drive anything? Logic is simply a way of looking at things, a process with steps that can lead to a conclusion. However, doesn't the outcome of your logical reasoning depend on your premise and assumptions? In this case, what is logic? Just a framework without substance.

[Orius]

Despite my tendency to over-explain my thoughts on subject matters with a seemingly logical mentality, I tend to rely on my feelings 7 out of 10 times. Most of the time, I do acknowledge the logical steps to take, but my feelings play a big part in hindering my thought process. For example, if I'm contributing to some serious discussion like this one, I would usually know what I want to say. But in the process of writing it, certain feelings may overcome me and change the direction of my tone and context, turning it into either more aggressive or enthusiastic than needed. This is almost beyond my control beyond my willingness to reedit the post later on, after I've seen how much I've derailed from what I initially wanted to say.

 

My instincts is almost non-existent AFAIK. I have slow reactions and very bad instincts. You could beat me in a reaction game almost everytime.

[brycec]

Despite my tendency to over-explain my thoughts on subject matters with a seemingly logical mentality, I tend to rely on my feelings 7 out of 10 times. Most of the time, I do acknowledge the logical steps to take, but my feelings play a big part in hindering my thought process. For example, if I'm contributing to some serious discussion like this one, I would usually know what I want to say. But in the process of writing it, certain feelings may overcome me and change the direction of my tone and context, turning it into either more aggressive or enthusiastic than needed. This is almost beyond my control beyond my willingness to reedit the post later on, after I've seen how much I've derailed from what I initially wanted to say.

 

My instincts is almost non-existent AFAIK. I have slow reactions and very bad instincts. You could beat me in a reaction game almost everytime.

 

Not too sure how reliable it is, but isn't there also research out there that says decisions are emotional, because without the part of the brain that gives us emotion, we cannot make decisions?

[Orius]

Not too sure how reliable it is, but isn't there also research out there that says decisions are emotional, because without the part of the brain that gives us emotion, we cannot make decisions?

I guess in that sense, it would be more accurate to say certain more volatile emotions of mine tend to overwrite my other emotions, even when that's not intended, sadly. I'm afraid I just don't have a very good hold over my feelings, for better or worse.

[ItsSammy]

I'd say I use logic the most ... Although I can (Rarely, this only ever happens around my family) act on my emotions when I'm at my breaking point with socializing with other human beings ...

I can kind'a just agree with @Evil Bunny of Doom on this topic because I also,

seem like a little angel to everyone and in my head I have murdered people in 9227 different ways

.

It's just the way I am ...

 

I can be the quietest and shyest person you've ever met on the outside but I struggle with actually being nice in my mind ... I guess I just get annoyed quickly since I seem to have many little ticks that trigger a massive panic in me which then spirals into being unable to be around people.

I usually use as much tact and logic as I possibly can when I'm around other people but even afterwards I will go over the encounter for days, weeks, maybe even months trying to figure out how I could've done it better ...

 

I'd say I go about things with logic since I can control my emotions fairly well, gut instinct plays into it somewhat but I usually end up stamping in down just so I can try to be more logical ...

[existentiallylostdumbell]

I think a lot, but generally, I just go with the flow I guess

[existentiallylostdumbell]

I'm a blend of all three, to be honest with you.

 

My emotions drive what I care about, my instincts inform my tactics, and my strategies are fed by cold, hard logic.

 

However, I'm good at explaining almost everything as a sequence of logical steps, though, regardless of whether or not it makes sense. Based on this, I think that people that don't know me would be inclined to say logic. However, I personally recognize that logic is just a tool in a toolbox that includes many things.

 

Actually, here's a thought - how can logic drive anything? Logic is simply a way of looking at things, a process with steps that can lead to a conclusion. However, doesn't the outcome of your logical reasoning depend on your premise and assumptions? In this case, what is logic? Just a framework without substance.

I think it probable that in most cases logic is just something done after the fact to rationalize decisions we've already made without it, even instant decisions, generally, I think we're on automatic

[Moe]

Sorry I didn't read your post, but I get the gist of things from your title. This is a very deep question actually but each has valor to it.

 

I for one follow logic and reason, but really all three of these are mixed in. Some things are right to do, yet you know you may get hurt, an example is if you lie or cover for your brother--yes I do have a brother and I have covered for his messes before. The only thing that doesn't fit in as much is instinct because an instinct is something which can only happen at that one moment. How do you live by instinct? Only if you have short term memory lost is that truly possible from my point of view, only if you are are able to live within that single moment of life. But past experiences will get in the way of things, and thus it's truly impossible to truly live in the moment. To live by instinct alone.

 

As you can see I went logical here and how I live is by logic. But as I said it's a deep, and hard question to accurately answer, even if you do live by one of the other two.

[brycec]

As you can see I went logical here and how I live is by logic. But as I said it's a deep, and hard question to accurately answer, even if you do live by one of the other two.

 

A lot of deep questions, like this, seem simple, yet are complicated because we do not fully understand how our brains work and how we process things.

Edited June 17, 2017 by Guest

[Imogen]

I wish I could say I go by logic but I'm definitely an instinctual type of person and sometimes my actions and decisions throw my logical husband for a loop. I recognize this though which is why I do take the effort to take a step back and think about a problem logically if I have the chance to - be we all know that life isn't perfect and sometimes we go into autopilot, and for me autopilot is my instincts.

[brycec]

I wish I could say I go by logic but I'm definitely an instinctual type of person and sometimes my actions and decisions throw my logical husband for a loop. I recognize this though which is why I do take the effort to take a step back and think about a problem logically if I have the chance to - be we all know that life isn't perfect and sometimes we go into autopilot, and for me autopilot is my instincts.

 

Insteresting, I do not think we had anybody answer with instinct.

 

To a degree, we all do act on it sometimes, particularly when our fight or flight mode is activated.

[4you]

As long as I can remember I make every single decision based on feeling. Or my emotional state. I follow my heart and if I feel that something will make me happy I will fight for it no matter the consequence if I think its worth it. Has caused me a lot of problems in life tho. I am not a really logical person either basically if I feel i want something I let my instinct and drive handle everything.

[John jobs]

I have done a little bit of all three......