How to Make Decisions: Guided Meditation for Life Choices (103)

Having trouble making a decision? I got you covered! In this episode, we offer a guided meditation designed to help you navigate the complex process of decision-making. Building on our insightful discussion from Episode 102 with Clarity Coach Keltie Maguire, we focus on one of life's significant choices, like the decision to have kids or remain childfree.

In this 13 min mindfulness-based meditation, we explore three essential components of effective decision-making:

1. Awareness: Cultivate a clear understanding of your thoughts and feelings.
2. Acceptance: Embrace your current state without judgment.
3. Compassion: Treat yourself with kindness and understanding throughout the process.

Meditation begins at 03:55

Download our FREE kids or child-free decision-making guide for additional decision-making support AND join our free Intentional Living Community to continue these meaningful conversations and connect with others on a similar journey.

Tune in, relax, and empower yourself to make decisions with confidence and clarity. Don’t forget to follow and leave a review if you find this meditation helpful!

Episode 12 on the Power of Female Friendship

Chapters

• 0:00 "Decision Making Meditation and Support"
• 14:18 Self-Compassion in Decision Making

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi everyone and welcome back to how the Wise One Grows, where we share mindful conversations and meditations to help you live with intention. Today's episode is a meditation that focuses on decision making, and if you know me, you know that I need this meditation, and I'm sure many of you do too, because decision making is hard. So we have all the support to help each other through the decision making process today, and this episode on decision making is inspired by a very big decision to make that we talked about in episode 102 with Kelty McGuire, a clarity coach, on the decision to have kids or remain child-free, and that episode is all about how you can decide to make that decision, and there is a special PDF that I have created as a guide to support you in this decision-making process. That is inspired by that conversation and today's meditation, and there is a link in the show notes you can click to get the free PDF download. So check the show notes to click that. Also, check the show notes to listen to episode 102 with Kelty. If you missed it you like, 10 out of 10 need to go back and listen. It's already one of our most downloaded episodes to date because it's just that good, so be sure you go back and listen and, if you like, want to continue that conversation. If that's a topic that's of interest to you and any of these topics that we are talking about you wanna continue talking about, you can join our free, intentional living community on Discord. This is where our community can come together to continue the conversations we're having on the podcast and to support one another as we live with intention together. I also want to take a moment today to thank our newest member of the dream team, brett. Brett is the best and Brett is now one of the incredible humans who supports this podcast every month. You can be really cool like Brett by joining the Dream Team for as little as $3 a month, and that helps to cover the operating costs that go into this podcast and sharing this offering with the world, and you can think of it as like a little matcha date to help fuel this conversation and this podcast.

Speaker 1: 2:30

And one final thing that I want to share is a recent review we received from listeners. So reviews are like gold in the podcast world, because it's what talks to the algorithm gods and helps to make this podcast appear in other places so more people can find it, which is what we want. We want this podcast to share far and wide for the people to hear. So I'm going to read a recent review and if you leave a review, it would mean the world and I will share it on the podcast as well. This review said Holly is so well-spoken and insightful.

Speaker 1: 3:06

Her episode about girlfriends which is episode 12, you can link it in the show notes made me so grateful for all those in my life. She's so gracious and finds the good in everyday situations. This podcast has brought me peace and joy, and every new episode is a breath of fresh air. I'm always looking forward to the next time I can hear her tranquil voice and, yay, that next time is right now, because we are going to dive into today's meditation. There is a timestamp in the show notes so you can download this episode and come back to it. Go straight to that time stamp. You'll miss the intro stuff and you will be able to dive straight in to this decision meditation any time you need.

Speaker 1: 3:52

So let's just take a moment to settle in together by finding a space that feels safe and supportive for you. And if you're on the move, if you're driving, that's totally fine too, but just take a moment, wherever you are, to notice where your body makes contact with the earth and if it feels safe, if you aren't driving, you can gently rest your eyes or soften your gaze at a point in front of you and take a big breath in, fill your chest, fill your belly with air and exhale. Open your mouth, let it out. Inhale, fill the chest, fill the belly with air. Inhale, fill the chest, fill the belly with air, exhale, open your mouth, let it out One more big. Inhale and exhale, exhale and exhale. Just allow yourself to witness the natural rhythm and intuition of the breath as it flows in and out of the body.

Speaker 1: 5:31

I invite you now to bring awareness to how you're feeling in the present moment. So take a moment, gently scan your body, from the tip of your head to the tips of your toes. Just notice the sensations that are present, notice what is alive for you here, noticing it all without judgment. And I now invite you to call to mind a decision that you might be trying to make right now, maybe a decision that you're really stuck on, and I want you to bring your awareness to that decision and explore your beliefs around that decision. So what stories are you telling yourself about the choice you're about to make in one direction or the other.

Speaker 1: 7:15

Notice the thoughts that come to mind around this decision and, rather than simply believing them, I want you to just notice them and get curious about them. So noticing your beliefs, meeting them with a gentle curiosity, and I'm going to guide you through Byron Katie's four questions to explore these beliefs and to question them. So maybe there's one belief around this decision that's really lingering in your mind. Let's stick with that belief for now. Decision that's really lingering in your mind. Let's stick with that belief for now. And I invite you to ask yourself is it true? Is that belief true? Second question can you absolutely know it to be true, with 100 certainty? Can you know this belief to be true? How do you react and how do you feel when you believe that thought? What sensations arise in the body? And who would you be, how would you feel and act without that thought or belief? What would be different? What would feel different? What would you do differently if that belief wasn't there, if you didn't believe that to be true?

Speaker 1: 9:59

And now I invite you to zoom out, take a wider view of this decision you're making, so no longer being fixated on this single decision, but to slowly start to imagine yourself like as a bird, flying above that decision, starting to see the whole landscape, all the moving parts of your life around it, no longer fixating on that one choice, but starting to see the bigger picture, your values and all the things that make you who you are, and maybe even bring to mind one of your core values right now. Just breathe with it here and allow that value to anchor you as you explore this decision and start to lean into acceptance Again. Notice how you feel in this moment, now that we've brought up this decision Again, you can gently scan your body, from the tip of your head to the tips of your toes, and allow and make space for all that's here in this decision-making process, acknowledging the uncertainty and the discomfort that comes with making decisions, making space for doubt and mixed feelings, and know that it's okay. Let yourself breathe into whatever it is you feel here, making space for all of it now.

Speaker 1: 12:59

I invite you to recall a time in your past where you had a big decision to make and maybe other people in your life had opinions about this decision, and you were really torn and distraught about which decision to make. But then then you made a choice. You made the choice that was right for you and you look back on it with like, yes, that was the right choice to make. I'm proud of myself, I trust myself. So I want you to reflect on that decision as clearly as you can and yourself making that decision what it felt like before, during and after. Clearly as you can, and yourself making that decision what it felt like before, during and after and use that as evidence to trust yourself, knowing that you know how to make the right decisions for you.

Speaker 1: 14:18

Take a big breath in trusting yourself and exhale, just radically, accepting yourself where you are right now, inhaling trust and exhaling acceptance. And now meet yourself with compassion for exactly where you are in this decision-making process, maybe giving yourself a break from trying to make this decision right away or discussing this decision with others and holding space to nourish yourself in other ways, to reconnect with the core of you and your values, to nourish yourself, to tend to yourself, to support yourself. Just bringing a hand to your heart, offering yourself a moment of compassion for any tenderness you might feel around making this decision, taking a few breaths here, noting that this is a moment of discomfort, that it can be challenging to make decisions and that all humans have a hard time making decisions sometimes. Know that you're not alone in this. Know that you're supported.

Speaker 1: 16:30

Three more deep breaths here and return to that connection to the earth and slowly open your eyes as you return to that connection to the earth and slowly open your eyes as you return to this space. If you need any more support around this decision, know that you can come back to this meditation anytime. You can click the link in the show notes to get our Kids or Child Free Decision Making PDF and you can also join the Intentional Living community to connect with others and share about the decisions you might be making and find support in making the choice that's right for you. Until the next time, let's keep taking it one breath at a time.