Discernment and Decision Making Part 2

This is the second post on the topic of discernment and decision making... As mentioned in the previous post, it is very helpful if we know whether we are head, heart, or gut centered decision makers. While we might be very lucky in our tendency to use one of these "energy centers" for making decisions, we might also try blending head, heart, and gut in the way we sort through and make life choices.

ARE WE HEAD, HEART, OR GUT CENTERED?

Depending on whether we tend to make decisions based on our heads, our hearts, or our guts, we may want to stretch ourselves by paying attention to the dimensions we often neglect. For example, if I tend to make decisions in a cool, rational manner, I might also want to pay attention to what my heart and my gut tell me. Consider the following questions.

HEAD

• What are the practical considerations that have to be taken into account in the decision you are to make?
• What facts are known? What is unknown?
• What are the limits of the resources available?
• What are the logical or predicable outcomes of each option I am considering?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?

HEART

• What are the values at stake in the options available to me?
• Do I have any strong or subtle feelings regarding the different options?
• Do I have a sense of consolation or desolation regarding the possible outcomes of my choices?
• Do the choices I am considering reflect my life’s passions and aspirations, my beliefs and convictions?
• How are other people going to be affected by my choice?

GUT

• Do I have any instinctive responses to the options I am facing?
• Is my intuition inclining me in one direction or the other?
• Is there any immediate reaction or impulse I experienced when I discovered I had a choice to make?
• Is my body telling me anything—a sense of relaxation or tension? Where is my physical energy—up or down?

OTHER RESOURCES

• We might also find it helpful to pay attention to our dreams
• Do I notice coincidences regarding my choices, for instance in the timing of things?
• Do I notice a sense of serendipity (a meaningful correlation between the choices I am making and the way simultaneous events are unfolding around me?