If You Feel Inner Peace You Have Made The Right Decision

The feeling of peace you are experiencing now shows that you have made the right decision. It may not have been the right or most logical thing to do with other people; it may not even be the best decision. One thing that is clear, however, is that it was the option that made you happy and was in line with your values, your essence and your feelings…

Sigmund Freud used to say that decision-making is like riding a competition horse. The animal represents our emotional, instinctive and almost wild side. Then we have the rider – the one who keeps the reins of reason and who guides, brakes and steers. So which of the two wins this battle? In most cases, it is our fascinating emotional design that is stronger when we have to make decisions, and that is where hundreds and hundreds of these races take place every day.

Life is full of choices. We actually spend too much time practicing the art of decision making: coffee or tea, elevator or stairs, calling or not calling, taking the train or waiting for the next one… Making decisions can give us the same feelings as if we are taking a step into empty nothingness. So when we really have to take them, we need big doses of courage and responsibility.

Read on to find out more…

Henry James wrote an extraordinary story called The Jolly Corner . In it, he introduces us to Spencer Brydon – a young man who, after achieving success and wealth in the United States, returns to his native England. In the loneliness of his now empty home, he begins to wonder if he made a good choice and if it was the right decision to leave his roots and his family. Among these doubts, suddenly his alter ego comes to the surface, his “other self”, which piece by piece shows him what would have happened to him if he had not made the decision in question.

The question of whether we have made the right decision or not is something that always remains with us. Just as Henry James teaches us in his story , in order to make a decision, we must first and foremost use the heart, but shortly thereafter take responsibility. We use our emotions, then reasonableness and above all the duty to be the architects for the paths we want to take.

There are not always correct alternatives or paths with neon signs that show us the way to happiness. The wisest decisions are those that offer us peace, that go hand in hand with our conscience and that in turn invite us to continue to make coherent decisions based on these elements.

We already know that emotions are like stars in an ocean of doubt when we choose between two options. It is also good to know that the brain structure that emits the most light in this process is the amygdala.

The amygdala has hundreds of connections in the brain; it is a fine-tuned and fascinating structure that acts as a kind of guardian, capable of evaluating all stimuli, conscious or subconscious thinking, experiences and events. Following this analysis , the amygdala issues an assessment; a decision that will later be carefully analyzed by our frontal cortex.

Since we now know that many of our decisions are made through our emotional channels, we will now see how these decisions can become a little wiser, a little more accurate and responsible.

To be happy, we must be able to make decisions and go beyond the barrier of fear. It is true that this is something we find to be very difficult because by deciding to do things we must also decide which things we should leave behind.

• When our heart asks us to step in and the fear arises, we must rationalize this fear and try to understand it. After feeling this fear, we can now turn to reason, because it is logic and conscious thought that must ask us to be brave and break down the walls of fear.
• When your emotions tell you to take a certain path, ask yourself if you are realistic. This is a question that you must ask yourself and no one else. If you think it’s possible and it makes you happy, do not let anything or anyone stand in your way.

• Accept that failure is a possibility. Accept that things may not go your way, but at the same time understand that an alternative is not enough to find the path to happiness. It’s just a door that shows you a number of possible paths to take.

The art of being happy is knowing how to make decisions every day, listening honestly to the voice of our heart, accepting that we will make mistakes and gradually finding our best paths – our paths to inner peace.