Getting Out Of Your Head And Into Your Toolbox
Does this sound familiar "I just can't decide"? All of us at times find ourselves afflicted with Decision Paralysis. Some things in life aren't black and white and doing nothing is a decision in itself. How many of us sweat the small stuff and or can't trust our gut instincts. Over analyzing can keep us stuck or not allow us to move forward. Clearly, logical thought has its place in decision making but logic is a tool and not the only one in your toolbox. Using multiple tools can construct a more solid foundation.
To explore good decision making learn to trust your instincts. Remember some decisions won't make sense to other people and that's okay. When exploring the pros and cons, use your imagination. Really sit down and envision living with the decision and pay attention to how that feels? Trusting your instincts instead of insisting on a logical reason for everything such as, should I buy the red top or the blue top, learn to recognize what FEELS right to me. The conscious part of our brain wants to veto our initial subconscious decision-even when it's correct, leaving us unaware or distrusting of our instincts. The conscious brain gets too involved and throws the whole thing into doubt and we linger with our decision. Intuitive decisions work best when the distorting effects of emotion are kept to a minimum. And don't beat yourself up if you make the wrong decision, we learn from the process. When we make life decisions, we don't necessarily ever know we've made the right decision but we can learn that being brave, means we can still be happy with that.
An exercise for accessing your gut sense of decision making. In a calm and undistracted setting, allow yourself a few moments to relax and center even more deeply. This will help distract the conscious mind so that you can access the subconscious. Next bring your attention to the situation you're trying to form a decision about, truly envisioning the situation and yourself within the situation. Now, pay particular attention to how the situation feels within the body. Does it feel safe in your belly, does it feel exciting, does it feel correct for you within your heart? Or maybe it doesn't feel any of those things and that too is a feeling so try and be aware of the body sense of things. In this way, you are connecting more with your subconscious and your intuitive or instinctual sense of the decision-making process.