Receiving a decision, instead of making one

A young woman recently came to me for a 1-to-1 mentoring session, seeking clarity about a decision she felt she had to make right away. She was quite stressed about the decision, and was judging herself pretty harshly for not being able to come to clarity. 

If you are anything like me, you know that place, where the mind is thinking in loops, the same thought over and over, and nothing seems to make sense anymore. Personally, I know that pattern very well. 

In our session, we did an exercise to try to imagine living each element of the decision, and I guided her to drop into the body to listen. After a few tries, she was really able to notice when she felt tense and when she felt relaxed, and from there, to recognize what steps were authentically going to nourish her as opposed to choices that she might have made out of obligation. 

You are probably also familiar with the difference between making a decision and receiving a decision.

When you feel pressured, and especially when the pressure comes from your own thoughts, you probably try to  force a choice from the logical mind. 

However,  authentic clarity can come much more easily when you give yourself a bit of  time and space to listen deeply to the body—to notice how your body responds to the different options in front of you. 

To be fair, it is not easy to get to the kind of quiet presence needed to receive a decision when you have built up a bunch of stress about it, or when the decision is truly a big one. (Am I going to stay in this relationship? Do I want to have a baby? Should I move to a different place?)

This is what 1-to-1 mentoring offers: a space to listen again to your own voice and remember that even when life seems to demand immediate action, you can breathe and trust your inner guidance.