For example you decide to quit smoking. In my case it was because my throat was hurting every morning when I woke up. I had made up my mind, I had no doubt it was the thing to do, but still, I was not so worried about my throat every minute of the day, and suddenly there were exceptions, there were good reasons to forget the resolution and light the cigarette. The problem was not the big decision about quiting, which was obviously right, but the small decisions which had to be faced one after the other, all the time.
Sometimes it is opposite, when you decide you are going start up something difficult which is going to take a long time, and you are quite sure you want to do it. For example, when I decided I would write a novel. I was not sure about the script, nor about myself as a writer, nor about the point of it. It was not easy to think I was getting anywhere, but it was really easy to sit down every day and write. (It was hard to sit down for many hours, anyhow it was a much simpler problem than figuring out if it was worth it.)
So, there is that inner thing which apparently knows always what to do, although it is not always right. It was wrong about the smoking, and it was only when I convinced it, whatever it inner thing is or could be, that I did quite. It was nice about the writing, had good intentions, but I still don't know whether it is right or wrong or just wishful.
That's how (not) to take a decision: you listen to it.
Sorry I write so little lately... I should be listening. I think I am. I'll ask.
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3 comments:
When you say "inner thing", do you mean a kind of 'alien will' inside you, which pushes you to do something you should not, or not to do something you should?
I'm not sure if I have understood you.
Perhaps are we talking again about Freud's id, ego and the superego? The id wants to smoke, wants to write; the superego knows that smoking isn't good, or that to write or not to write is the same from de moral point of view. And the ego just does what it can: deal with the irrational wishes (to smoke, to write) and the moral duties (not to smoke, to spend your time in a productive activity). So, if the ego can't dominate the id, you keep on smoking, or writing although the id is not sure about the morality of writing (doing nothing) in order to keep your mind busy.
I don't like Freud very much, but it's easier for me to use his three components of human personality. I'd prefer to be enlightened with another explanation of our behaviour.
I don't understand the meaning of "you listen to it".
Uh, er, and don't say sorry so often :-)
I've found a mistake in my comment: I meant "the superego is not sure about the morality...", not "the id".
Leshes with the leperos writing in English.
It's not an "alien will", I don't think so, and I don't know much about Freud.
There's many voices in the mind (in my mind at least). There's rationality, which is usually quite clever but does not necessarily make sense. There's feelings, which are strong but most times difficult to understand. There's rules, the way I think I should behave, or I'd like to. And fear, there's lot of fear in me. And many other voices, I just have to listen.
Sometimes I wonder if all of them are part of me. Is fear really within me?, else I can get it out, dismiss it? That's a very important question, and it's possibly impossible to answer to it.
The "inner thing" is my decision. It's the mechanism I use to listen to all the rest and make the balance and decide. Sometimes it is dominated by fear, other times by rationality, etc. Sometimes I can hardly hear to the inner thing itself, I don't understand.
Anyway, I guess each of us is just trying to understand (precisely to understand) what's happening in your mind, and we make up all these different and a bit silly stories and argue about them.
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