During my HR tutorial last Thursday, we were told do a little activity as follows: read a passage and rank the characters inside in order of who you like the most to the least.

This is the passage:

A ship sank in a storm. 5 survivors scrambled aboard 2 lifeboats: a sailor, a
girl and an old man in 1 boat; the girl's fiance and his best friend in the 2nd.

That evening the storm continued, and the 2 boats separated. The 1 with
the sailor, girl and the old man washed ashore on an island and was wrecked. The
girl searched all night in vain for the other boat or any sign of her fiance.

The next day, the weather cleared, and still the girl could not locate
her fiance. In the distance she saw another island. Hoping to find her fiance,
she begged the sailor to repair the boat and row her to the other island. The
sailor agreed, on condition that she sleep with him that night.

Distraught, she went to the old man for advice. "I can't tell you what's
right or wrong for you," he said. "Look into your heart and follow it." Confused
but desperate, she agreed to the sailor's condition.

The next morning
the sailor fixed the boat and rowed to the other island. Jumping out of the
boat, she ran up the beach into the arms of her fiance. Then she deicded to tell
him about the previous night. In a rage, he pushed her aside and said, "Get away
from me! I don't want to you again!" Weeping, she started to walk slowly down
the beach.

Her fiance's best friend saw her and went to her , put his
arm around her, and said, "I can tell that you 2 have had a fight. "I'll try to
patch it up, but in the meantime I'll take care of you."

The class was split into groups to discuss their choices, as well as to reach a final group ranking. There was 2 girls and 5 guys (including me) in my group. In general, the guys felt that the sailor and the fiance were at the bottom of the list, and that the girl and the old man were ranked on top, leaving the best friend in the middle. However, the girls placed best friend at the very top and the girl last.

What the girls felt was that the girl was immoral to sleep with the sailor in exchange for a favour, while the best friend was very kind to show comfort when she was upset. On the other hand, guys felt that the girl showed true love and her actions were justifiable to say the least. The best friend is believed to have possible ulterior motives for his kind words and was therefore ranked in the middle.

My HR tutor personally ranked the old man last, because she found the advice given by the old man to be totally useless. "To follow your heart" is just beating around the bush and doesn't solve the issue in any way. "Would you work for someone who gives such advice?" she asked.

If you ask me, the advice given by the old man is the best advice he could ever give. Only the girl would know to what extent is she willing to sacrifice for her fiance. Shouldn't one's heart know what's best?

Anyway, it seems to me that the advice was thought to be useless, because nobody knows how to "look into your heart and follow it". From my personal experience, listening to my heart is much better than listening to what others say. Maybe it sounds abstract, but no harm giving it a shot. The next time you're confused, look at a huge empty space (the sky, the horizon, the sea.....whichever is more convenient), take a deep breath and clear all thoughts out of your mind. The very 1st thing that comes back into your mind, is what your heart has to say.