Complex decisions involve more information than conscious reasoning can hold at once.

Turning inward for answers often brings up rumination and self-doubt instead of clarity.

Research on optimal self-esteem points to beliefs that make it safer to trust oneself.

A few years ago, I found myself in a place where I had to make a really tough decision.

We had just bought the home of our dreams and were going to move in a couple of weeks. Then circumstances changed. My husband and I began wondering whether moving in was the right thing to do.

I wish the answer had been a clear yes or an outright no. It would have spared me sleepless nights and endless arguments with myself, and sometimes with my husband.

Eight days went by. All the thinking, analyzing, and weighing the pros and cons had completely exhausted me. I wished someone would wave a magic wand and the perfect answer would fall from the skies.

The next day, it did. I was standing at my window, looking out as dusk descended on the evening in a warm embrace of soft peachy pink. And I broke down in tears.

Partly exhaustion. Largely relief.

Some people call this intuition. I like to call it the soul’s knowing. Because something in us always knows. We just don’t have faith in it—unless all our other ways have left us nowhere.

When I felt calmer, I looked back out the window, and suddenly but softly, my soul spoke.

Moving in is not the right thing at........

© Psychology Today