Wise Decisions Don't Come From Your Head

Wise decisions don’t come from your head.  Living a truly authentic life means being guided by an intuitive place within.  This is the only way to ensure we are not merely playing out some old outdated programming that no longer serves us, or living uninspired, “safe” lives and simply waiting to die.

Living an inspired, full life sometimes means dancing to the beat of a different drum.  Asking for advice or following some formulaic decision-making process does not allow our life to be an organic, continuously evolving experience.  We tap into our truth, our greatest source of divine guidance and direction, by checking in with ourselves and feeling for the next right answer… and “right” is entirely subjective.  Nobody else can give you that.

Consider a current decision you have been mulling over.  You can have your truest, most authentic answer right now.  First, be honest with yourself about what your choices are, then play them out in your mind one at a time and notice how each possible scenario feels in your body.  Those feelings are your spirit, your truth, communicating with you.

If you still find yourself waffling, consider to what degree fear is playing a part, and if that’s the place from which you want to live your life.  And what would courage look and feel like?  I had to ask myself this same question when I was considering going to the Philippines, and fears about leaving my business for that length of time had me straddling the fence for a while. 

If the next right step on your path still is unclear, perhaps the best possible answer needs a little fine-tuning.  Consider what would need to happen in order for this to feel right.  A friend shared with me that she had been experiencing minor symptoms of post-partum depression.  It took first being really honest with herself that something wasn’t feeling right, and then some reflection and self-honesty for her to realize being a stay-at-home mom wasn’t what she wanted.  Once she let go of her own self-judgment about what kind of a mother that made her, she eventually hired a part-time nanny and started freelancing, and now her life is feeling more balanced.  Sometimes a little tweaking goes a long way. 

You may even want to play out in your mind what would happen if you did nothing, because choosing not to decide is still a choice.  How does that one feel in your body?  A client struggled with leaving his unfulfilling, stressful, and demanding job out of fear of what the future may hold, yet every day was a physical, mental, and emotional challenge just to get through.  While it took him a while to get to a place of real clarity, he eventually drew his own conclusion that doing nothing was slowly but surely killing him.

We are all starting to wake up from a collective dream, and cookie-cutter lives are holding less and less appeal.  Be willing to look at your perceived limitations.  Watch for statements that contain the words “I can’t”, “I should”, or “I shouldn’t”. For many, now marks a time of beginning to think and live outside of the box.

When you have felt your way into the right answer to the question, you will know…you will feel it in your body.  The more you choose to listen from that place, the more quickly and efficiently that guidance will come.  It was actually there all along.  And the more you practice this level of deep listening and self-honesty, the more efficient you will become at noticing when something is out of alignment.

This may be something as simple as a choice around what to eat.  When you are looking back and forth between the tub of ice cream and the apple, think it through.  How will you feel after the initial satisfaction wears off?  Then, if you still go for the ice cream, do so without guilt or regret.  Stand by your choice, and choose again next time from an even wiser place.  The choices you make today will influence the ones you make tomorrow.

Remember, this is your life.  Nobody else gets to live it for you.  It is an intricately woven tapestry made up of all of your choices.  Let it be your masterpiece.