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I’ve been meditating for sometime now, and it’s apparent that my mind and heart are not in sync.

I’m often in confused stage because my mind says one thing while my heart says something else and my awareness is in total confused mode trying to interpret these two entities.

While meditating of course these dualities do not arise because the focus and attention is in single object unless if I do insight meditation.

I would be really appreciate if anyone could give me an dharma insight on what’s happening here.

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  • Could you be more specific? Do you have more examples of your mind and heart not being in sync?
    – ruben2020 ♦
    Dec 8, 2020 at 15:52
  • Welcome to the next 50 years of your practice! ;-)
    – user20120
    Dec 8, 2020 at 16:03

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Your situation is not unusual and you are not alone. In the terms of this meditation, it is an advanced technique which requires a wealth of self-understanding.

Intentions are the motions, strings of the mind; emotions, of the heart and actions are of the body. When we mix them, the tangle becomes exceptional and control is lost entirely. Seperate and mastery of each individually is the foundation to cultivating their mastery.

In practice:

  • Observe the connection between intention, emotion and action individually. This means, when you stub your toe, getting angry at the chair is mixing emotion and body; your internal commentary cursing profanity at that chair is mixing in your intention.

The greatest insight Gautama Buddha left with regards to your question is the five hindrances. By observing one component (mind, heart, body) without the bias of another influence the effects of the the five hindrances are minimised and you can merge the components with success safely.

Cultivate in harmony

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    Thanks so much for your comment @Beau. I managed to pinpoint things from your comment. This is my understanding as for today. Mind catches the body/mind stimulations > attached to those stimulations > arise of emotions > believe the emotions are true and valid > further attachment to emotions > communicate the emotions to body > body believe those emotions are true and valid > actions... repeating the cycle. Here, mind denote as head and emotions denote as heart
    – Explorer
    Jan 17, 2021 at 21:07
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    @Explorer anytime, and thank you for communicating your clarity as well! It's a very clear and concise example of the foundation for Karmic lessons. Breaking the cycle is questioning automatic/conditioned 'self-logic' and instead of being a character, being the philosophical narrator acknowledging questions we usually never stop to think or answer and just act on - How does the body perceive the greater world in order for the mind to interpret and connect to the emotion to validate? Where do each emotions arise from? Not a simple thing to change, it has to be conditioned by ourselves.
    – Beau. D
    Jan 18, 2021 at 2:56
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I’m often in confused stage because my mind says one thing while my heart says something else and my awareness is in total confused mode trying to interpret these two entities.

It'll be difficult to discuss in more details without some concrete examples/instances of the above, for quite oftenly, what one's "heart wants" while one hasn't attained enlightenment ususually is just a romanticized/sanitized way of sayin what one's "desire/lust wants". Just like how many times engaged couples explain away the break-up of their relationship as due to the man/woman simply "following their heart" to cheat on the fiance and had an affair with a different man/woman, etc.

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  • thanks for your explanation. It make sense to think that desire is popping up and may be I’m seeing mind’s projection? It’s bit difficult to explain what exactly is going on. But it feels like mind chatter starts from heart area and when I’m being mindful about it, the chatter disappears and at the same time, it arises on head.
    – Explorer
    Dec 8, 2020 at 22:29
  • I think it's less important where it arises, whether from head or heart, than whether there's a sense of self-identity involved, any "I", "mine", or "myself". The latter is what one should be more careful with, and should try his best to dis-associate from. No "I", no "mine", no "myself" and you should be at peace, regardless of any desire, and regardless of whether it's from your head or your heart.
    – santa100
    Dec 8, 2020 at 22:40
  • Thanks so much @santa100 as a novice I’m sorry if this is a silly question. But wouldn’t that lead to depersonalisation disorder? I’m bit too confused :(
    – Explorer
    Dec 9, 2020 at 0:18
  • Don't worry about depersonalization disorder. If any, u should worry more about hyper-personalization disorder, which is a much much more contagious and virulent one than its opposite.
    – santa100
    Dec 9, 2020 at 1:50
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Buddha did not talk about the heart and mind. What he taught was the arising of wholesome thoughts and unwholesome thoughts in the mind. The good news for you is that you are aware of this. (Samma Sati or Satipathana) Just continue to practice Satipathana.

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Buddhist practise is to think in the manner the Buddha taught us to think, such as thoughts of renunciation, good-will and harmlessness.

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  • This answer has absolutely zero relevance to the OP's inquiry.
    – santa100
    Dec 9, 2020 at 1:51

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