On Making Decisions

I was facing what I thought was a rather complex situation, and asked one of my best friends for an opinion, after laying out all the relevant information and possible outcomes. The response:

You already know what to do!

"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." -– Steve Jobs

And, as it turned out, I do.

This reminds me of my favorite 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Nunnalee, who was sailing around the world with her husband; they would stop at various international schools to teach a semester or two to fund the trip. When I was stuck, I would go up to her with my questions, and ask them in much the same way I did earlier this afternoon. Mrs. Nunnalee would smile broadly, wavy auburn hair tossed back, and ask me to repeat my question more slowly back to her. By the time I was done, I realized I did already have the answer, and she would send me on my way.

It's both heartening and befuddling to think that, in a lot of ways, I'm still the same little kid, and thank goodness that there are people like Mrs. Nunnalee around to help me keep my head on straight with a smile.

Comments

A number of years ago, my step-dad was a vice president for Sara Lee. I once asked him what quality he liked most in an employee.  He said it was the ability to make a decision.

He said that most of the time people were looking to push responsibility for a decision on to someone else instead of accepting the responsibility themselves.  Generally, all this did was take extra time.

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Sometimes the greatest gift of friendship can be to let the other person talk through their problems. It’s almost as if you transfer over some of your strength allowing them to force out the answers that were buried within them.

My cousin had a trick of tossing a coin, and making up her mind while it was in the air. Because I was talking out a problem with her, she shared and I learned this trick.
The experience of coming back to your kidlike self is a kick, and I’ve learned to view it as a positive thing. An authenticity.