The best way to go about making a decision is to give equal attention to every single voice inside
When we have a choice to make it’s easy to feel confused, overwhelmed or pulled in different directions.
Conventional wisdom instructs us to make pros and cons lists, but evidence shows that the best decisions aren’t made through the intellect.
They’re made through intuition, i.e. listening to the body.
Even as you become quite adept at listening to your body, your body might have several conflicting opinions.
Which one should you listen to?
Maybe it’s the one that comes up first, but as soon as this one reveals itself you hear another opinion.
Your body might have 10 different opinions on each given topic.
My advice? Hear all of them out.
Sometimes you don't like or don’t understand all the opinions that arise.
The trick is to make space for the ones you don’t like too.
You don’t want to favor any one voice over another. Spend with each one.
The more you’re able to make space for all of the different voices inside, the more authentic your decision will be.
What does not favoring any one opinion look like?
Spend time with an opinion as if you’re trying to get to know it.
When you’re first trying to get to know someone you’re not coming to them with an agenda and you approach them with care and with a certain level of curiosity.
If you want to build trust with them you do a lot of listening.
Your opinion needs to know that you will listen, not judge. Be with it, see it. Be curious about it.
When it feels seen it might give you some more information about what it believes and why it’s here.
You might find that it’s here because it’s trying to protect you from something.
In that case you can appreciate its presence but decide you’re actually safe. Then you can go through with your original opinion.
On the other hand it might surprise you with some new information that can help inform your decision.
Learning how to listen to your body - especially through Somatic Therapy - can help you make strong, authentic decisions.