Browse
Top articles
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
00:00
00:00
Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:
Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, I'm going to share a tip for making hard decisions. So on a day-to-day basis, in a moment to moment basis, we are always making decisions. Simple benign decisions, such as: should I have this extra cup of coffee? Should I go to the bathroom now or hold it? Should I take this phone call or work on emails instead? Every moment, we're making decisions. But a lot of times we're making harder decisions.
Should I move? Should I take this job? Should I have this difficult conversation? Should I be with this person? And often when we're trying to make a decision, we're focusing on the yeses to that decision and the nos to that decision, the pros and the cons. And there can be a big emphasis on why we would want to say yes to this decision, especially if it's something that we're we're pulling for. And we tell ourselves all the reasons why it's really good, why we'd be excited about. Maybe trying to convince ourselves of it. And then we'll focus on the cons as well, but might not go fully into those cons, especially if we feel like ah that would be, that might sway us in a direction toward a no.
And we don't really need to go into that. We don't want to be negative. Let's focus more on like, why we'd be excited about this decision. However, if we don't allow ourselves to fully embody our nos, we can't fully embody our yes. I'll say that again, and really let this one sink in.
If we don't allow ourselves to fully embody our nos, we can't fully embody our yes. And why is that? Well, think about the decisions that you've struggled with. You, you're telling yourself it's really good for a certain reason. You're really caught up in the story of why it's good, why you might be excited about. But there's something in it that just feels like, I don't know if this is the right thing.
And you think about maybe the downsides of it, you kind of touch them but it feels painful to really go into those downsides. And it feels like that might hold a lot of weight. So instead since I really want this to work, I just focus more on the yes, the yes, the yes. But by not going into the no, and not really going into the depth of the fear, it just sort of lingers there. It remains there, even when we're caught up in the story of the yes.
That's what keeps this lingering feeling of, I don't know if this is the right decision. The only way to get around that is to descend into the no, to really go into that fear and really see, what is this? What is this that I'm scared of? What is this that's telling me no? And let yourself embody it fully, to feel it fully and to understand it fully. Once you do, interestingly, what often happens is we realize, alright, yeah, there are some concerns here, but since I've looked at it so clearly, and I've allowed myself to feel it fully, I realize I can be okay with that. If we don't drop into that, it just remains this subconscious feeling of, Hmm, maybe this is something that we should avoid. And so, if we want to get to a place of having a really clean yes around something or a really clean no around something, we have to very deeply go into and embody what those cons, what those nos are first until we can actually get to some clarity and a clarity that includes the fullness of us, not just the story of our mind about why we want it to work or don't want it to work.
So hope this gives you something to think about, especially if you are navigating some hard decisions in your life. Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.
A Tip for Making Hard Decisions
Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:
Duration
Your default time is based on your progress and is changed automatically as you practice.
Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, I'm going to share a tip for making hard decisions. So on a day-to-day basis, in a moment to moment basis, we are always making decisions. Simple benign decisions, such as: should I have this extra cup of coffee? Should I go to the bathroom now or hold it? Should I take this phone call or work on emails instead? Every moment, we're making decisions. But a lot of times we're making harder decisions.
Should I move? Should I take this job? Should I have this difficult conversation? Should I be with this person? And often when we're trying to make a decision, we're focusing on the yeses to that decision and the nos to that decision, the pros and the cons. And there can be a big emphasis on why we would want to say yes to this decision, especially if it's something that we're we're pulling for. And we tell ourselves all the reasons why it's really good, why we'd be excited about. Maybe trying to convince ourselves of it. And then we'll focus on the cons as well, but might not go fully into those cons, especially if we feel like ah that would be, that might sway us in a direction toward a no.
And we don't really need to go into that. We don't want to be negative. Let's focus more on like, why we'd be excited about this decision. However, if we don't allow ourselves to fully embody our nos, we can't fully embody our yes. I'll say that again, and really let this one sink in.
If we don't allow ourselves to fully embody our nos, we can't fully embody our yes. And why is that? Well, think about the decisions that you've struggled with. You, you're telling yourself it's really good for a certain reason. You're really caught up in the story of why it's good, why you might be excited about. But there's something in it that just feels like, I don't know if this is the right thing.
And you think about maybe the downsides of it, you kind of touch them but it feels painful to really go into those downsides. And it feels like that might hold a lot of weight. So instead since I really want this to work, I just focus more on the yes, the yes, the yes. But by not going into the no, and not really going into the depth of the fear, it just sort of lingers there. It remains there, even when we're caught up in the story of the yes.
That's what keeps this lingering feeling of, I don't know if this is the right decision. The only way to get around that is to descend into the no, to really go into that fear and really see, what is this? What is this that I'm scared of? What is this that's telling me no? And let yourself embody it fully, to feel it fully and to understand it fully. Once you do, interestingly, what often happens is we realize, alright, yeah, there are some concerns here, but since I've looked at it so clearly, and I've allowed myself to feel it fully, I realize I can be okay with that. If we don't drop into that, it just remains this subconscious feeling of, Hmm, maybe this is something that we should avoid. And so, if we want to get to a place of having a really clean yes around something or a really clean no around something, we have to very deeply go into and embody what those cons, what those nos are first until we can actually get to some clarity and a clarity that includes the fullness of us, not just the story of our mind about why we want it to work or don't want it to work.
So hope this gives you something to think about, especially if you are navigating some hard decisions in your life. Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.
Duration
Play in-app
Scan the following QR code with your camera app to open it on our mobile app
Get Unlimited Access
A Mindfulness Plus+ subscription gives you unlimited access to a world of premium mindfulness content.
Email Missing
We couldn’t detect your email with the SSO provider you have selected.We are here to make a positive impact on the world. We never want to sell you something that hasn’t helped you live a better life. That’s why if you’re unhappy with any purchase from us, you have 30 days to get a full refund and your money back.
If you subscribed to Mindfulness Plus+ and are unhappy with your purchase, please get in contact with us within the 30-day period and we’ll refund your purchase.
Learn more about our Mindfulness Guarantee.
Mindfulness
We believe in a world where everybody has access to the life-changing skills of mindfulness.
Private Browsing
Congratulations on taking the first step towards a more mindful life! As a token of our appreciation, we want to offer you an exclusive opportunity to upgrade to Mindfulness Plus+ for a price you won't find anywhere else.
Mindfulness Plus+ is our premium membership that includes everything you need to learn mindfulness and keep practicing throughout all stages of life.
Take this exclusive offer to further your mindfulness skills and experience deeper levels of well-being.
Annual membership
$0
Just a small sample of the life-changing 5-star reviews we get on a daily basis.
Vidyamala’s tips on catching anger as it’s happening or about to happen are great - clear, practical, and doable.
- Vicoir
The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
- Lauren
Incredible, easy to navigate app. I would highly recommend this app to anyone who wishes to reduce stress and anxiety or simply as an aid to improve overall mental health.
- Kirtus
I love how the app gives me pointers to new things to explore.
- Lydia
So calm and soothing. I love the new bundle with Kelly Boys, she’s brilliant!
- EJ
Better than Headspace. I've had the paid version of both apps, and I must say I enjoy this one better.
- Gina, Plus+ Member
Vidyamala’s tips on catching anger as it’s happening or about to happen are great - clear, practical, and doable.
- Vicoir
The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
- Lauren
Incredible, easy to navigate app. I would highly recommend this app to anyone who wishes to reduce stress and anxiety or simply as an aid to improve overall mental health.
- Kirtus
I love how the app gives me pointers to new things to explore.
- Lydia
So calm and soothing. I love the new bundle with Kelly Boys, she’s brilliant!
- EJ
Better than Headspace. I've had the paid version of both apps, and I must say I enjoy this one better.
- Gina, Plus+ Member
Vidyamala’s tips on catching anger as it’s happening or about to happen are great - clear, practical, and doable.
- Vicoir
The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
- Lauren
Incredible, easy to navigate app. I would highly recommend this app to anyone who wishes to reduce stress and anxiety or simply as an aid to improve overall mental health.
- Kirtus
I love how the app gives me pointers to new things to explore.
- Lydia
So calm and soothing. I love the new bundle with Kelly Boys, she’s brilliant!
- EJ
Better than Headspace. I've had the paid version of both apps, and I must say I enjoy this one better.
- Gina, Plus+ Member
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
Thank you for joining us
Dive into the full library and enjoy all it has to offer!
Claim your free access
Create a mindfulness account and we’ll unlock this premium session in your account forever.
7-Days free trial, cancel anytime.
Complete a few quick questions to make your own personalized mindfulness plan.
Sign up or login to your mindfulness account to proceed.
Sign up or login to your mindfulness account to proceed.
Mindfulness
One membership to gain access to a world of premium mindfulness content created to help you live happier and stress less.