How To Make A Decision

What's involved?

When you ask a question about how to make a decision, there are two things you need to consider. You and your decision-making process.

If you need to do a particular job, typically, you would use a particular tool that forms a certain function. If the tool is not in very good shape, it may not function particularly well. A blunt scissors, for example, won't perform as well as a sharp one.

Similarly, it's important that YOU are structurally sound before you move on to the doing aspect.

How does this relate to how to make a decision?

Function follows form

If somebody is not in good physical shape, they wouldn't expect to be able to run a marathon, for example. With training, however, the structure of the body alters. Fat is lost, muscle mass is built. This change in structure then allows the body to function more efficiently at sports.

This idea translates over to all areas of human functioning, including thinking, creativity and how people make decisions.

Consider it this way. People have good days and bad days. There are days when everything seems to be going wrong. The universe is conspiring against you. Nothing seems to be working. How to make a decision?? That goes by the wayside because nothing is working! People use phrases such as

• weighed down
• feeling down
• the weight of the world on his shoulders
• cramped
• confined

People get tension headaches and various aches and pains from excess tension in the muscles.

When it's working well...

There are also those days where everything is going really well. You are on top form. There is a great sense of well being. Your thinking, personal values and actions are aligned. With very little effort on your part, things are going your way, and everything works out. (I know, I know! These days don't seem to occur often enough!) You know exactly how to make a good decision and the process is easy and effortless. People often describe themselves as

• feeling light
• walking tall
• walking with their head held high
• they have a glide in their stride
• moving gracefully

Have you ever considered where these language forms come from? They are actually the linguistic expression of what is occurring in somebody's physical system. Much of the time people are not aware of the physical system. They only become aware when it reaches the level of language.

Remember, too, the body-mind idea. Thinking can affect your body. More importantly for us, moving your body in different ways will affect your thinking.

Seem strange? If you do a head stand, do you not perceive and think about the world differently? It's often when people go to have a coffee and leave their desk, and suddenly they are inspired or come up with a solution to a problem. Why? Because they shift their body position. This allows them to think differently!

There is wisdom in the body!

• Shake it off
• Sleep on it
• Let's step away from it for a moment
• Have a breather

These are all expressions we use when we want to distance ourselves, or think differently about, some issue. We inherently know that moving our body in different ways gives us different ways of thinking.

What if we could apply that so that we could have more good days? When you are on top form, with everything going your way, your body adapts a certain position and moves in a certain way. What if you could learn how to manipulate your body in this way? So that you could choose to be on top form, have good days and know how to make faster decisions?

This would be a well formed structure. In fact, it's the optimum structure for your system. When you're like this you have a very solid internal sense of who you are. You're in a great position to understand how to make a decision, because the "You" that's making it is operating at it's best! The question then becomes not how to make a decision, but how do I make good decisions?

This is also especially useful for adolescents, giving them a strong sense of themselves to use as a platform from which to make decisions.

Remember, function follows form. The form you have when you are operating at your optimum is in place. So lets examine the functional aspect of how to make a decision...

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