You’re walking in fog. Ominous shapes loom. It’s cold and damp. Confusing. You’re disoriented. There are trolls under that bridge. Nasty creatures lurk in the swamp of your soul. The swamp smells.
When you’re walking in fog, you want to move but it’s unclear. Which way should you go? Does any road lead to that sunny mountaintop with the great view? If they do, where are those damn roads?
It’s not that you want guarantees; not at all. It’s just that you can’t see the end of your own nose. Let alone the future.
Here are some techniques to try when you’re lacking clarity.
Q & A
Work through your options with a question and answer format. Write the question. Listen for an answer. Write it down. It doesn’t really matter whether you think the answers come from yourself, a higher self version of you, or God. Whatever comes will give you a new perspective.
If you prefer, you can make the questioner and the answerer into characters. Write yourself a story.
Mind map the issue
Put the central issue in a circle in the middle of the paper. Draw possible solutions out from that. Do “trees” of solutions. Explore different angles.
Make it a treasure map. X marks the spot. Mark the treasure chest and “you are here”. Draw the obstacles and the daring required to overcome them.
List wants
Make lists of things you really want. They can be huge impossible things or tiny things that are well within reach. Get acquainted with what you want. It will always lead you in a good direction.
Maybe you want a Porsche or just a good Italian donut. Be greedy, want both. What you want doesn’t really matter. Knowing what you want helps. You can probably get some of it.
Make something
Doodle, draw pictures, cartoon, make a collage. Write poems, songs, jokes. Bake a cake, make pasta. Using creativity, making things, shifts your mind. Answers come when you play with creation.
Do something that is beside the point. Take the pressure off and let the answers drop in.
The body test – how does it feel?
If you’re making a decision, give it the “body test”. When there’s that sense of warmth or opening with an option, that’s the one. When it feels tight or heavy, it’s a sign, “wrong way, go back”.
If it feels like cement, it probably is a dead weight. If it feels like toasted marshmallows, it might be a good thing.
Enough ideas to play with. I’m off to navigate my own fog. I’ll trip over trolls and fight them. One of those roads will lead to a sunny hill. I’m due for a downhill run. Don’t you love it when life just flows. It takes all weather though.
miss yardley 