This is a Guest Post by Jill Magso from the Silva Method Team

You have most likely noticed that some people are extraordinarily talented when it comes to taking solid decisions. They just have a great knack for knowing which decision to take at the appropriate time. Many of these individuals have established tremendous success in the world of business and other areas in life. How could they not? They have this brilliant ability to tap into their insights anytime, whenever they need it.

Wouldn’t you like to model their abilities? I’m sure you would but perhaps you lack such innate talents. Or do you? In all honestly, it would be wrong to assume the potential to develop intuitive decision making is impossible. Anyone can do it with the right effort.

Yet aren’t some people born with the talent of intuitive decision making? They may very well have been. Yet I will say that it is more likely that they developed their extraordinary decision making talent from years of trial and error and experience. They might not admit it themselves and in some cases they might not even be directly conscious of it.  Such skills are the end result of a lengthy process of making decisions repeatedly over time. Eventually, those with good judgment will pick up on what works and what does not.

In many ways, you could say that developing intuitive decision making follows the same pattern as any other skill development. Essentially, you need to want the skill first then you have to work at acquiring it. Decision making (or, more accurately, effective decision making) is a skill like any other. It can be effectively attained and there is no magic to it.

There is an old saying about luck that is right on the spot: “The more I practice, the luckier I get.” Efficient decision making is quite literally cultivated through practice.

It is quite probable that even people who are naturals at taking effective decisions had poor intuition or judgment earlier in their lives. This is not a good thing or a bad thing. That is just how their decision making process turned out for them at the time. Those that were wise or conscious enough began to pick up on those things that work and discard those things that do not.

How can this be done? Is a great deal of time commitment required to make this particular process work? Does there come a point where you eventually give up on trying to develop intuitive decision making skills?

If these are the questions going through your mind, you may be running the risk of suffering from paralysis by analysis. In other words, your fretting about making improvements in terms of your intuitive capabilities will undermine you actual ability to take time out and develop said skills.

The process for reflecting for improvement may not be as difficult as you initially assume. Here are some insights into how to gain the much needed improvements you require…

1. Be resolute on trying and just do it

First, when you wish to deliberately improve a skill you will need to take definitive steps to do so. No more “winging it” with a halfhearted attitude. You will need to actually stop and reflect on what you need to do in order to attain success.

2. Monitor your decisions and their outcome

This can all start with keeping a journal of your intuitive decisions and noting which decisions worked out well, which ones worked out poorly, and which decisions were somewhat of a mixed bag. Keeping and accurate log of all your decisions will allow you to examine these decisions on their own individual merits.

3. Reflect on your inner motivations & reactions to those decisions

Writing down (or typing down) your ideas and opinions on your decisions will allow you to determine how to improve them in the future. Of course, it needs to go without saying you must be honest with all your assessments and self-reflections or else the process will not be one of much value. You want to look for improvements upon making reflections and not look towards making excuses. Be mindful or this or else you will discover your ability to enhance your decision making abilities will be limited.

The above three points will also make you more conscious of the fact that intuitive decision making is something that can be developed and improved. To assume that improvements are outside of your capabilities means you see intuitive decisions as innate or magical. That is not the case as there is a science to the process. You just have to figure out your own approach to improving on the science.

This article has been written by the Silva Method Team.

For over 5 decades the Silva Method has helped millions of people around the world achieve their highest potential by working with the mind. By expanding the mind’s capabilities through meditation, creative visualization, mental exercises, and self-improvement, graduates of the Silva Method have gained profound achievements and lasting transformation in their lives.

The Silva Intuition System is a powerful program designed to heighten your intuition in order to make the right decisions, follow your destiny and passions, and bring out your inner compass. While conventional science will have us believe that we are limited to the 5 senses, there is one sense that has been left hidden for many people and that is your intuition. It is your most powerful and precious sense.

For more information please visit: http://www.silvaintuitionsystem.com

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Photo by timtom.ch

There are many factors that play a determining role in success. The most commonly identified are qualities such as passion, determination, perseverance, good planning, intuition and creativity amongst a few others.

It is to be said, however, that not all success comes from the heart or leads to happiness.

There is success which comes from taking smart decisions, hard work and perseverance together with a pinch of good luck. But this type of success does not necessarily lead to a happy fulfilled life. It might be the type of success that comes from striking the right six figure business deal or from having your name become big in your area of expertise.

This is obviously a great thing but does not necessarily entail what you really want deep inside.

Authenticity and inner purpose

Heart driven success is the ultimate form of success because it goes beyond limited beliefs about cause and effect, desire for money, fear and expectations and most of all, it is guided from the heart.

When you have stripped off the socially induced values of what is good, bad and ugly and listen more to what your heart is saying, you thrive towards your inner purpose. You would have found your authentic self.

Heart driven success comes from having your heart open to your life’s purpose without fear and limitations. It comes from the power of being conscious of your passion that drives you with enthusiasm and joy.

If you are in doubt, ask yourself: what drives you? What motivates you? What makes you work hard without getting tired and unsatisfied? If you had a guarantee of success in whatever venture you take, what would you do?

Aligning with your purpose in life

Heart driven success is powerful. There is a certain energy that flows through people when they are doing what they are passionate about. This comes from the fact that the person is aligned and in perfect sync with his purpose. When this happens, the energies of life flow through him freely without obstruction.

It’s like an unblocked pipe connected straight to the source. There are even some highly motivated and self-empowered people that would describe this energy as literally too powerful too handle at times. It feels as if it is filling every cell in their body and keeps them revved up as they produce work well beyond average quality and quantity.

Success beyond the self

Heart driven success means also, above other things, not to be limited and enslaved by narrow self-interest. It is not shallow. It’s free, unbounded, selfless and embraces broader interests than self-satisfying ones.

This is why some illustrious self-empowered people have given the world their creations and inventions for free.

They are already blessed by the greatness of following their life purpose with heart-driven success, so much so that monetary compensation falls way below that level of satisfaction.

A perfect example is the following TED talk from inventor Pranav Mistry,  who decided to give out his ingenious and mind blowing work on ‘sixth sense technology’ as open source knowledge. Utterly fantastic

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There is a lot of literature to read about the subject of Meditation, its spiritual and practical aspects or the different ways it is practiced throughout different traditions and for different ends. There are tonnes of information and I feel that I would be adding little value if I add more of what is already available and write articles about the subject per se.

I think it is more suitable in this context for me to write about Meditation through my own experiences and point of view on the subject. After all, there are no strict objective rules and know how on the matter. It is much more like a personal journey that one enters or walks along in his own particular path.

Of course there are general guidelines and valuable clues one has to pick up and learn. For example, one introductory book which I’d always suggest is ‘Meditation for Dummies’ – which I think the title betrays the fact that it is a very comprehensive and well written guide which has lots of valuable information for both beginners and even seasoned Meditators. Those of you who have read some of the ‘For Dummies’ series know that most of them have very good editorial quality.

There are also genuine and highly experienced teachers and Masters and it is always highly recommended to be guided by them.  I am not a student of any Meditation teacher. I have chosen to go out for the path on my own. It’s not that I disagree or dislike the idea, it’s just the way I set it out to be. This is my account of it.

The Journey Begins

I started practising Mindfulness Meditation quite recently, about a few months ago. Actually I had started doing some Meditation sessions sparingly and irregularly since a few years back. It was a different type of Meditation I used to do then. It was what I later learned to be called, receptive or insight Meditation.

The thing about this type of Meditation is that it is not based on focusing the Mind or anchoring the awareness but on setting the mind free and accept whatever feeling, intuitions or images come up. Often, after some time, the mind would spontaneously break free from its more rational and conditional patterns of thought and immerse into a more metaphorical, intuitive, and insightful stream of consciousness. I think this has to do with a shift to right-brain dominance, the part of the brain which is responsible for metaphor, creativity, intuition and holistic understanding of ourselves and our surroundings.

Recently, I got back to a more committed and resolute approach to Meditation. Having been deeply touched by the concept of Mindfulness, I started exploring one of its paths through the practice of Mindfulness Meditation.

Mind over Chatter

Mindfulness Meditation is a type of Meditation that is straightforward in essence but because of years of conditioning, the mind finds it quite difficult and unnatural to grasp at first. It’s like when as newborns we feel quite at ease in water but after some years that natural affinity is deprogrammed and the next first encounter with swimming in water feels rather unnatural at first. It’s the same thing with Mindfulness.

The key to Mindfulness Meditation is being in touch with your present moment. It’s about having your awareness in the present and not having your mind drifting on a never-ending train of thoughts. Of course, this is the tricky part and those of you who Meditate know very well what I am talking about.

We have what some Buddhists call a Monkey Mind constantly jumping around from one branch of thought to another. For those of you who have never tried meditation, I suggest doing a little thought experiment and try to keep your awareness focused on an object, a picture or your breath for just five minutes. Can you keep your mind free from chatter for five minutes? Probably not because naturally a thousand thoughts will come rushing up and all we need is just hop onto one of them and in no time we’re drifting away thinking about how long I haven’t phoned my friends or what to cook for dinner or fantasizing about some holiday somewhere and so on.  That’s OK. We are all naturally subject to that but the good news is that we can practice to leap over this hurdle.

It takes patience and commitment. I am still learning my way through it little by little. However I can say with solid confidence that it is worth every single minute of it. The results are immeasurably too beneficial to undervalue.

Beware of the unchained Awareness!

Generally in Mindful Meditation practice, you turn your awareness away from floating in a haze or in thoughts and towards something like your breath, your bodily sensations or fixed on some mental image.

I like to start by keeping my awareness on my breath first, just observing the inhaling and exhaling and how it feels in my nostrils, lungs and belly, then widen my awareness to also include bodily sensations such as the way my fingers feels touching each other or the way my hands feels on my lap or the way I perceive the position of my body in space. The key is to stay in your present.

If my mind starts drifting off, I redirect my awareness back to my breath again without judgment as if nothing happened.

There can be two main distractions. One comes from outside in the form of noise, hence quietness is a prerequisite, and the other comes from your monkey mind which protests like a bored little child and tries to sabotage you by talking you out of your meditation session (literally though discursive thought and vocalization).

Of bubbles and Anchors

Another thing which can be of an obstacle is expectation. When I first started mindfulness meditation, I had a certain expectation of what it is about.  For instance, I thought that the goal is to reach a state of thoughtlessness and a total dissolution of mind (Wow!). Expectation can barricade your inroads into your meditation by letting your mind expect an outcome rather than letting it arise on its own.  When my first real success in mindful meditation happened (it was Christmas day) , I was surprised to find out that it was quite different than I expected.

It happened something like this: As I was expanding my awareness from my breath to parts of my body there was a point in time where my awareness ‘locked’. The analogy is to an auto-focus lens that very quickly goes in and out of focus until it locks on to its subject. That is exactly the way it felt. Thereafter it was an incredible confident feeling of rock solid focus and calmness. The strange thing was that thoughts were still arising, although much less in number, however they were completely not affecting me. Like soap bubbles they were quickly bursting out of existence.

The analogy this time is that of an anchored boat. The awareness feels like an anchor and the monkey mind is the boat floating above. It sways a little but cannot drift off because now it is chained to your awareness.

Upgrade your mind with Meditation

Mindfulness Meditation has been a life-changing practice for me and hence can potentially be so for anyone. It’s hard to describe all of the benefits I gained from it in a limited space but I will try to bring out some of the main ones in brief points below:

• More focus and moments of Mindfulness in the everyday things I do
• Less fragmentation of thought and more wholeness of being
• More calmness and much less stress and anxiety
• Improved analytical skills & memory
• Enhanced creativity & problem-solving skills
• More Happiness and appreciation of life
• Insight into the fact that my being is different than my thinking and doing
• Greater inspiration
• More motivation
• Brief moments of bliss hours or even days after a good meditation session

The list goes on and I must reiterate that I am still in the beginning of the journey. The prospects look good and I would recommend Mindfulness Meditation to anyone more than anything else.

I think of Meditation as being a natural programming language that we can use to hack our minds but very few people do so because we are not born with an operating manual for it. Learning Meditation is, in a few simple words, accessing that manual and using it.

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