So you’re stuck on what you should do.
You’ve asked everyone for advice. You’ve made a pros and cons list. You’ve thought until your head hurts.
It’s no good. You still can’t decide.
I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news.
The bad news is that you’ve been asking the wrong “person.”
You’ve been asking yourself what you should do.
But the “self”—the person you’re aware of being—isn’t equipped for this job.
Your conscious mind only has access to a fraction of the information you need to make a good decision.
The GOOD news is that there’s a simple technique to get the answer you’re looking for…
And all it requires is a coin.
Your Brain Knows More Than You Think
In my last article, I explained how the bulk of your wisdom is locked away in a part of the brain you have ZERO access to.
Your brain is like a black box. It’s constantly observing, recording information, cataloguing, and noticing patterns…
All without your conscious awareness.
As the brain soaks in information and makes connections, it improves its ability to predict what will happen.
Being able to predict what will happen has great survival value, which is why brains are so good at it.
You aren’t aware of the process the brain uses to make predictions, and you don’t need to be.
You just need to be able to rely on your gut.
The Origin of Intuition
Ever wondered where those gut instincts come from?
Let’s say you have a gut feeling, and you’re not sure where it came from.
Chances are, it came from your brain’s vast pattern recognition abilities.
The brain is capable of recognizing a pattern well before it comes to your conscious awareness.
The brain can even nudge you into changing your course of action before you even know you’re doing it.
That’s not to say that gut instincts are always right. The brain may have seen a pattern that didn’t exist.
But most of the time, you’d be smart to take your gut’s advice into account.
How to Harness the Gut’s Intelligence
But what if our gut is silent?
What if we’re not sure what it’s saying?
Let’s say that you have a decision you need to make.
Should I stay in this relationship or leave?
Should I tell him how I feel or wait?
Should I go on a date with this man or not?
You’ve thought it through, considered the pros and cons, asked your friends, and you still don’t know what to do.
It’s time to let the subconscious brain work its magic.
Here’s what you do.
- Get out a coin.
- Decide what heads and tails will mean (e.g., heads means you stay with him, tails means you leave.)
- Flip the coin.
- Look at the results.
- Quick, ask yourself: How do you feel inside right this instant?
That feeling is your answer.
If you feel glad or a sense of relief, then follow the coin’s advice.
If you feel let down or irritated, then don’t follow the coin’s advice.
Again, the way you feel AFTER you look at the coin tells you what you should do.
Try it and let me know how it works for you!
LOVE it.
I do something sort of like that a lot…I call it trying on each answer. I “decide” but don’t act…then the next day I “decide” the other way but still don’t act. Then I see which brought me more peace.
Or sometimes I ask myself, if my decision ends up being wrong, which wrong can I better live with? Which mistake / bad outcome would I kick myself less for?
Anyhow I’m sure there are tons of other ways…these are just the ones I’ve found. The coin thing really probably adds to it because you get to see right away if you have feelings of intense loss or whatever at the flip of a coin.
Totally agree that our gut is a pretty good guide. When I’ve wanted to kick myself, it’s almost always because I didn’t follow my gut.
And THANK YOU for the reminder…sometimes my conscious logical brain wants to enter the picture and talk me out of what my gut knows. Since we depend so on logic, it’s really hard to shut down that higher brain when we need to.
I LOVE that, Anne! Specifically this part: “I see which brought me more peace.” It’s such a different way to make decisions, isn’t it? To imagine making the decision and then feeling whether that sense of peace settles in your bones. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve let my head convince me into making a decision that my gut knew was wrong. We live in a world where reason and logic are considered better decision-making strategies than “feminine intuition,” but the science is now showing that our bodily wisdom can be “smarter” than our conscious mind.