
It is often difficult to know exactly what to do. This is especially true when you decide to stop being a creature of habit and circumstance and decide instead to live a life of purpose and meaning. It may sound strange that deciding to live purposefully can leave you without a sense of direction. But it often does. Imagine that you always take the same route to work and then one day, you wake up and decide that you are going to take another road. Ah, but which one? And does it actually go where you want to end up. That's the quandary.
Indecision. Procrastination. Doubt. Fear. All rear up whenever you are at a choice point. All serve to frustrate and impede your ability to know what to do and then actually do it. And just like that, you are back doing the habitual, back in the comfort zone, back with the known, even when you know it does not work to produce the results you desire to have in your life. Yet another opportunity to change has come and gone. All because you think you don't know what to do.
So, here is my suggestion for what to do when you don't know what to do...
Stop thinking about it. Get out of your mind. Let your heart make the decision. Or your gut. Instead of just trying to think your way through the decision making process; feel your way through it. What feels right? What is your gut instinct?
Sure, it often makes sense to use the old Ben Franklin method-- list the pros on one side of a piece of paper and the cons on the other side and then go with the majority. That may help you to think about some possible course of action a little more clearly. But thinking something through doesn't always supply the right answer, or even supply the way to your best answer.
It's been my experience that many people will actually think themselves right out of making the right decision. They know in their hearts that they should go a certain way, but they allow their mind to tell them otherwise.
Listen up all you mindful people... How do you create a life that is both successful and fulfilling? Simple. You already know the answer. It is... FOLLOW YOUR PASSION. Passion is not a mental attribute; it is an emotional one. You don't think passion, you feel it.
So, whenever you don't know what to do, here's what you do -- check in with how you feel about it. If it feels right, do it. If it doesn't feel right - don't.
Now, I am not saying that you shouldn't use your mind. I am not suggesting that you stop using your critical thinking. I am saying that when your mind is not giving you a quick and definitive answer, then go with your gut instincts. Ask any winner in any field and most times, they'll tell you that:
- they trusted their intuition; or
- it just felt right, so they did it; or
- they had a gut feeling; or
- they had this burning desire to do it, despite the evidence; or
- they somehow just knew what to do, without knowing how they knew.
In other words, they were out of their mind :-) and into their heart.
Trust your heart. It is wiser than your head. It knows what to do when you don't know what to do.
© Leslie Fieger. All rights reserved worldwide.
Leslie is the author of The DELFIN Knowledge System Trilogy: The Initiation, The Journey and The Quest plus many more success publications. He also the co-author of The End of the World with Hugh Jeffries and Alexandra's DragonFire with his daughter Ashley. Subscribe to his free and ad-free eZine at http://www.ProsperityParadigm.com or http://www.LeslieFieger.com..
Reprinting and republishing of this article is granted only with the above credit included. Permission to reprint or republish does not waive any copyright.
AP - Gov. Rod Blagojevich was impeached Friday by Illinois lawmakers furious that he turned state government into a "freak show," setting the stage for an unprecedented trial in the state Senate that could get him thrown out of office.
AP - Facing unwelcome resistance from fellow Democrats, President-elect Barack Obama is encouraging critics of his $800 billion economic recovery plan to "just show me" their own ideas. With more than 11 million Americans out of work, Obama pressed Congress for urgent action Friday and said the U.S. is undergoing "a devastating economic crisis that will become more difficult to contain with time."
AP - Israeli jets and ground troops hammered at Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip and Islamic militants fired barrages of rockets at southern Israeli cities Friday, ignoring a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire after two weeks of combat.
AP - Get ready for the in-law in chief. President-elect Barack Obama's mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, is moving into the White House at least temporarily to join Michelle Obama and the two children, transition officials said Friday. That's good news not just for late-night comics, but for 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha. During the campaign, Robinson retired from her job as a bank executive secretary to help care for her granddaughters.
AP - She messed up her first interviews, didn't show much of a grasp of the issues and, dontcha know, had a speech pattern that was widely mimicked.
AP - A Texas death row inmate with a history of mental problems pulled out his only good eye and told authorities he ate it. Andre Thomas, 25, was arrested for the fatal stabbings of his estranged wife, their young son and her 13-month-old daughter in March 2004. Their hearts also had been ripped out. He was convicted and condemned for the infant's death.
AP - Birders with binoculars and cameras are flocking to a remote state park in search of a small yellow-chested bird that apparently crossed the U.S. border for the first time from its high-mountain habitat to the south.
AP - They play brother and sister on "Dexter." Now in real life, Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter are husband and wife. Hall's spokesman, Craig Bankey, said on Friday that the couple eloped in California on New Year's Eve. They'll walk the red carpet together at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday — the first time publicly acknowledging their relationship.
AP - A man may have tipped his intentions when he stood in line at an Ohio bank wearing a ski mask before staging a holdup. Police in Stow near Akron said 24-year-old Feliks Goldshtein of Highland Heights was arrested minutes later on Thursday following a brief car chase.
Reuters - The Illinois House of Representatives impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Friday for abuse of power, including a charge that he tried to sell President-elect Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat.
Reuters - Israel rejected a U.N. resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Friday and warplanes and tanks pounded the Palestinian enclave.
Reuters - Robert Rubin, a former Treasury Secretary, resigned from Citigroup Inc on Friday following months of criticism of his performance at the giant U.S. bank, whose sinking share price led to a government rescue.
Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama and a key Democratic lawmaker revealed plans on Friday to overhaul the government's $700 billion financial rescue fund as a way to aid struggling homeowners and speed the flow of credit.
Reuters - The unemployment rate surged to the highest in nearly 16 years last month as a deepening year-long recession forced companies to axe more than half a million jobs, government data showed on Friday.
Reuters - The U.S. Supreme Court said on Friday it would consider a challenge to a central provision of the 44-year-old voting rights law aimed at preventing states and local governments from making it harder for minorities to vote.
Reuters - A top bank industry group said on Friday that it opposes an agreement between Citigroup Inc and Democratic senators that would rewrite U.S. bankruptcy law to help troubled mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure, saying it could make home loans more expensive.
Reuters - The European Union sought to finalize details on Friday of a gas monitoring deal to allow the resumption of gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine, which have been cut off for days over a pricing row.
AFP - Tanks and warplanes pounded Gaza on Friday after Israel defied a truce order from the UN Security Council as the death toll from the two-week-old conflict against Hamas passed 800.
AFP - Somali pirates said Friday they had freed a Saudi-owned supertanker, whose capture nearly two months ago caused panic in international shipping and spurred the world into tougher anti-piracy action.
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