Life
This "Balloon Test" Helps You Make Hard Decisions
When you find yourself in a position where you have to make a choice that has the potential to affect the rest of your life or the lives of others, uncertainty can be crippling. Among the many types of meditative considerations, the balloon test for making difficult decisions might be the most effective for you. Because when you have a question as big as "should I stay or should I go," you can find yourself going back and forth rather than stopping to deeply consider.
Choices that feel black and white are usually more complex. Our minds try to simplify things to make them easier to digest and wrap our heads around, but no two choices are ever *completely* opposite. Among my social circle, there are a few major decisions that seem the most alluring. Do I want the corporate life or the bohemian life? And, do I want to live in New York or LA? We see these paths as opposites when really there are plenty of ways to have a little bit of both while your gut figures out what it truly wants.
This particular balloon test forces you to clear your mind and look at the less obvious effects of your decision. It encourages you to look at your life in both scenarios and naturally wander towards the one that best suits you. This exercise makes you look at the bigger picture, understanding that many of us get really caught up on the more obvious and surface aspects. Here's a general overview of the meditative process:
Ask Yourself A Question
Make it a simple, one sentence question that has a yes or no answer.
Focus On Your Breathing
This is a meditation, after all. Take deep, full breaths and push your decision away, not out of sight, just to a distance.
Get Some Perspective
The point of this exercise is to bring this decision into the larger picture of your life — to give you some perspective that exceeds this moment in time.
Jump Ahead
A choice will eventually be made, so try to imagine the world in which is has settled. The future can alter the pressure of the present.
See The Choice
What will you decision change in the future? How many aspects of your life does it affect? Is it as big of a choice as you thought it was?
Are You OK With It?
Do you want to live in this world where this choice you've made exists?
Reel It In
You might not realize it just yet, but you already know your decision. Take a few quality breaths and bring that decision closer and closer until it's floating right in front of you. You know what you want, your gut has already chosen. Take a few more breaths to sit with the choice and then move forward with it if, if it still feels right.
Watch the full video here:
Did your answer change? Or did you know it all along and just need to spend some time breathing with it?
