Name The Voices in Your Head

Just when I started making decisions rationally... then there was the Adjustment Bureau.

Movies mess with our heads, because it appears that real life would be just like them. They give us the power to see inside every character's mind, but also the pleasure of sympathizing with their inability to do the same. We know Matt never called Emily because he lost her number. We know Emily really loves Matt even though she got engaged to someone else.

In real life, we can't have that power. We are, like Matt and Emily, confused, hurt, lacking closure, needing affirmation when something doesn't work out. We don't have the privilege of seeing all sides of the story unfold as we're living it.

Sometimes you follow your gut and sometimes you don't, but when should you?

I've made a paradigm that helped me - and might help you.

With any decision, there are multiple voices chiming in their advice: our fears, our desires, our memory, our parents, our stomach aches, our blood rushes to the head, the voice of God himself maybe.

Step 1 is to give those voices a name. I've named mine:

Emotion
Logic
Intuition
Divine Revelation

Before you name them, spend some time and consideration listening to the tone and color of each voice. Take emotion, for instance. As C.S. Lewis said, "Emotions are wonderful servants, but terrible masters." They have a place, but for some of us, they are sitting on a throne. You can't dethrone them without know what they sound like, especially if you're calling them "God" or just ignoring them.

Step 2: take a situation (relationship, work problem, etc.) that has been bothering you, and write it out from the perspective of each voice.

If you only listened to emotion, what would it be saying? If you only listened to the logical procession of events, would the story sound different? If you let your intuition be the only deciding factor, rationality and feelings aside, how would the story go then? What was God whispering to you during the whole process? Was there a scripture, or a verse that kept coming back to you?

Step 3: Read back each story out loud, and see which one sounds like truth.

Step 4: Over time, analyze the results. Which voice seems to be helping you the most? Tune out the others, and start listening to that one.