Build Your Inner Dialogue

Some people are called naive or even stupid because they believe people until they are proved wrong. Other people are called cynical or mean because they do not believe anyone until they are proven right. Either way it can be tough to navigate such absolutes in life when life is really about navigating the grey.

So how to navigate life? Engage your brain and your heart at the same time. Our gut tells us one thing and our heart may or may not confirm that message. So choosing one over the other means leaving a valuable portion of who we are unengaged and silent. By learning to trust the head and heart – even when they disagree – allows us to have an inner conversation where we have thought and feeling working both sides. Asking ourselves questions, thinking through those answers, even believing or doubting it all the way to that decision point. It takes time and energy, more than we sometimes want to invest. Experience and wisdom teaches us how to move forward using both our head and our heart.

So which kind of person are you? Trusting and then burned when wrong? Or cynical and humbled when the other person was right? Or have you learned how to read the signs, process the signals and meet people in the middle somewhere around that combination of trust yet verify? As you know, all our relationships are different. No two people, situations or requirements are ever the same.

So how to navigate life? Engage both your brain and your heart, then once you do decide stand behind your choice. There is nothing worse than doubting everything because of fear. You won’t get it right every time, that’s how we learn and mature. Easier to choose and learn than to never choose at all. So build your inner dialogue and move ahead with confidence.