How to Make Decisions

“You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.”  ~ Job 22:28

Decide on a matter, make a clear choice about what you want, and the entire universe will help you bring the fulfillment of your decision into reality.

Decision-making is a challenge for many people. We may have a decision to make that weighs heavy on our heart, so we avoid it or we may let ourselves be confused to the point that we do not make a clear choice or give a definitive yes or no answer to a situation.  We may tell ourselves, “I just can’t make up my mind.” No decision is an invitation to the universe to simply supply random experiences and “stuff.” A definitive decision results in a definitive response from the universe.

Regardless of your level of comfort and skill with decision-making, life demands that you make many decisions every day.  Some are inconsequential, like the brand of toothpaste you choose.  Others may be so consequential as to change your life path, such as the college you decide to attend or the spiritual path you choose.

Indecision is rooted in fear. Fear of making the wrong move, taking the wrong job, choosing the wrong partner, doing the wrong thing or saying the wrong word may stop us in our tracks and cause us to settle into procrastination. We put off making a decision with a Scarlet O’Hara attitude of “I’ll think of it tomorrow… After all, tomorrow is another day!”  The problem is that the right “tomorrow” may never come.

We can move out of standstill and into making decisions easily by opening our mind to Divine Guidance and developing the ability to trust and follow our intuitive hunches or flashes of insight.

Eric Butterworth, in You Make the Difference, tells us there are two major problems that keep us from accepting and following the inner guidance of intuition:

“(1) We do not have clearly defined goals. Too often like a child in a toy store, we grab one thing only to throw it aside as soon as we glimpse something else we think we might like better. Right or wrong, set a course, have a plan;

(2) We have a bad habit of not carrying through to completion action that has been determined upon.  When you start something, always see it through to completion. Be a bold starter and a determined finisher.”

He goes on to give us the following five steps for making decisions easily, confidently and wisely.

  1. Affirm that you can make a right decision. Nothing is accomplished without faith and confidence.
  2. Declare that you cannot and will not make a wrong decision. If you have made an unwise choice in the past, and you see that now, it indicates you have grown and the “mistake” led to learning.
  3. Get still in quiet meditation to release the power of the Superconscious forces of your mind (Christ in you). The intuitive forces of your mind, far more resourceful than you may realize, will go to work for you.
  4. Keep still, don’t talk, don’t worry. Don’t go around asking advice from others. Set a deadline for making the decision and then give the decision to your mind for a period of mental incubation and forget about it. Don’t dissipate yourself with talking about it.
  5. Then act; open your mouth and speak, and out will come the right and wise decision. When the appointed time comes, take a step, choose a course of action, do something! Even if you don’t feel inspired, open your mouth and speak. You will find yourself speaking words and taking actions that seem almost foreign to you. The intuitive faculty of your mind will come into play, you will choose wisely, and you will be secure in your choice.

Decide what you want and the entire Universe will rush to help you make it a reality.

Doors will open, opportunities will arise, people with skills, talents and ideas will cross your path, and every needed resource will show up. Decide what you want and prepare to receive it.

Rev. Carmen Zappi