I was talking with one of my teenage nieces earlier today. Swapping stories, she said something about being afraid she thinks about things too much. It’s funny, because a lot of people say they think too much.
Winnie The Pooh would get stuck in a conundrum, then command himself to “Think, think, think.” We’re all a bit Winnie-ish sometimes, aren’t we? We want to think our way through things so often, pondering and pummeling our brains until they rack out the best thoughts or ideas. Some folks sit with their thoughts for a long time, believing that when the best idea comes to them they’ll know it, then be able to act on it.
I’m afraid that’s just not realistic.
The simple fact of the matter is that we’re dynamic creatures with three major decision-making engines in ourselves. They’re represented as the Mind, the Heart, and the Body.
- We THINK with our Mind, our intellect, our brains. We make decisions with our minds through the things we think we know, the opinions we have, our philosophies on life, and the attitudes we have about ourselves and others.
- We FEEL with our Heart, our emotions and feelings. Our hearts make decisions with our moods, desires and passions. If feels its way through what we love and hate, what we fear and what we love. This is “Feel”.
- We DO with our Body and our actions. Different from our beliefs and feelings, our body actually does things and shows itself through how we live our lives and spend our time and energy. This is “Do”.
Adam F.C. Fletcher 