Even after everything I’ve learned and written about listening to my own heart, I am still often swayed by many things, such as:

• others’ suggestions,
• what I think someone else might do, and
• advice I read.

It’s not that I think shutting myself off from the world is what I need to do, but I still need to remind myself daily that when it comes time to answer a question I have, first make whatever consultations I want to make, and then sit, be quiet, and let the answer arise.

For most of my life, I tried to “reason it out,” but it usually fails me. I think myself into knots.

Whether the decision is as small as deciding between having a garage sale versus donating our old things to Goodwill, or as large as considering business opportunities, I’ve learned the hard way that when I feel myself thinking this way and that, I need to stop, meditate on the question, and then move on, allowing my reason and intuition to work together in the background. The answer will come in its time.