Last week, we talked about Discernment and how it is about honing a gut feel of what is right and wrong. Two weeks from now, I am going to talk about HOW to hone this gut feel exactly. After that I am going to discuss specific steps to make well-discerned decisions. For today’s post however, let’s just step back and talk about Decision Making in general. Let this be Decision Making 101.

Instead of coming up with a longish article on Making Decisions, I have decided (hehehe. Sooo witty!) to write random snippets/notes gathered from different sources. Some of the notes here are points from Discernment talks I gave in the past and I was greatly inspired by this article from UBALT.EDU.

1. The Latin word Decido has two meanings: “to decide” and “to fall off”. Thus, plants are called “deciduous” if their leaves fall off. To decide then is really some kind of falling. To decide involves some kind of “taking the plunge”. According to the great Fr. Roque Ferriols, a time comes in your life when you have all the data you need, and then you decide—“lundagin mo beybe!” (Make the jump!)
2. The fear of making serious decisions is called decidophobia, coined by Walter Kaufmann at Princeton University in 1973.
3. When making your decisions, put yourself first. It’s important that you’re better off as a result of making the decision. And not just in the result that you get, but more especially, as a person. The decision should allow you to maintain who you are, without compromise.
4. Decision-making usually involves a three-pronged process:

   a. It is triggered by a recognition of a need: A dissatisfaction within oneself;
   b. A decision to change–to fill the void or need;
   c. A conscious dedication to implement the decision.

   Decision then is not just about what we want to do, but what we HAVE to do. There is a certain “ought-ness” to real, life-changing decisions triggered by the need to change something within ourselves.

5. Never make any serious decision when you are overly distressed, angry, hurt, desperate or frightened. Do not decide when you are FORCED to decide by someone else! Do not decide just to get revenge or to harm someone else. Do not make decision when you are incapable of rational thought. Make decision for the right reasons and when you are calm and emotionally quiet. Learn to wait.
6. While it is (usually) easy to decide between “right” and “wrong”, and it is easy to tell “good from “bad”, decisions become more difficult when it is between “good” and “better”. The toughest decisions of all are those we have to make between bad and worse.
7. Do not make decisions that are not yours to make. Don’t waste your time making decisions that do not have to be made.
8. Be sure to choose based on what is right, not who is right.
9. Some people decide by asking whether the decision is “God’s will” in their lives. What is God’s will anyway? St. Ignatius de Loyola says that God’s will is found in the intersection where my greatest/deepest desire meets the world’s greatest need. Eve Ensler, who wrote the Vagina Monologues, puts it this way: “When we give to the world what we want the most for ourselves, we heal the broken part inside of us.”
10. Once the decision has been made, don’t look back. Do not second-guess, and do not regret a decision. Put the “what ifs” aside. It was the right thing to do at the time. Now focus on what is right at this time.