Mystical Decision Making and how to choose your next right step.
One evening nearly a decade ago, I found myself grappling with a decision I needed to make. My mind spun in endless circles, trying to strategize while straining to figure out: do I stay or do I go?
Needless to say, this approach wasn’t helping.
If anything, it added to feeling immobilized and stuck.
Noticing that my mind-spins were taking me nowhere, I decided to pause and turn towards Spirit’s grace with an intentional prayer:
Please show me my next steps in a way I can easily recognize and understand!
I laid down, closed my eyes, and began a breathing meditation, repeating these words like a prayer that could take me places I couldn’t go alone.
Please show me my next steps in a way I can easily recognize and understand.
The breath nourished my nervous system, softening the strong grip of my critical mind, and helped me descend deeper into my body. I felt my cells awaken, my heart expand, and my inner vision sharpen.
Please show me my next steps in a way I can easily recognize and understand.
As I breathed and attuned to my inner world, I had a clear inner vision of three doorways. They took shape for me like hobbit doors – I remember seeing these doors reveal themselves in my inner consciousness felt playful, delightful, and disarming. I was less in my critical mind and more in the playful possibility.
I inwardly stood before the first door and saw inscribed on the door the first decision I was considering at the time (STAY). I walked through the doorway and intuitively knew that walking through the door was giving me insight around making the decision to “stay.”
When I walked through the door to stay, I felt a shrinking feeling in my body. I saw myself going through the motions of the rhythms I had established for myself, yet with each movement, I became smaller and cast into the shadows of those around me. I felt the part of me that was afraid of disappointing others — and I felt a part of me that would become undeniably suppressed if I didn’t make a change.
I left the doorway and returned to the ‘room’ with three hobbit doors. Breath by breath, once again - I returned to:
Please show me my next steps in a way I can easily recognize and understand.
I then stood before the second door with the word “GO” inscribed. I walked through and once again intuitively felt I’d receive underlying insight on this decision.
In the second door, I felt in my critical mind at first again — a part of me trying to strain to “see” what going would look like in detail. Wheels spinning to visualize the “how.” I acknowledged that I was in my head and repeated the prayer, asking for Spirit’s assistance. In that same second doorway, I then saw myself in what felt like present-day at the time, wearing a heavy cloak in a climate that didn’t call for it. I felt the ways I’d suppressed parts of my wild and true nature to cater to the community I was apart of. Spirit then showed me a bird in a caged nest, strong and ready to fly now. The cage door opened for flight just as the second doorway revealed itself, letting me know I had received what I needed here for now.
I returned once again to the room with three doors. Having received insight on “staying” and “going,” I wasn’t quite sure why there was a third door and what it held.
There weren’t any words on this door…yet I intuitively sensed it was Spirit/my Soul revealing what it wants for me. I felt I’d be shown options and insights I hadn’t been able to access or considered up until now.
Inwardly, I entered the third door and immediately noticed infinite pathways, like a labyrinth of trails that all led to the same sacred place. I felt a warm glow within my heart, and attuning to that inner glow helped light up the step before me. The guidance/reflection I received in this door invited me to remember that I can’t make a right or wrong choice — every pathway offers learning. AND — when I’m uncertain about where to go from here…my heart is a compass. What if I trusted my heart? Would I stay or go, knowing that I can’t make a wrong choice?
I returned to the three doors and thanked Spirit for revealing these underlying insights to me. I took time to integrate the experience by not rushing or forcing myself to make an urgent decision.
Upon deeper reflection, I soon after decided that going was the next “right” step for me. It wasn’t easy, and it did involve heartbreak and grief, yet even in the midst of processing hard feelings, I didn’t question my decision. I knew deeply in my heart that this was the right move for me, even if it was painful at the time. Engaging in the three-door meditation helped me access the clarity in my heart, and revealed to me an opportunity to metaphorically take off the cloak.
This 3-door experience I had nearly a decade ago has since become one of my most tried-and-true practices for making decisions and/or seeking guidance around a question in my heart.
Over the years, I’ve mostly engaged this process on my own. Yet there are a few instances where I felt called to lead clients who were grappling with decisions through this process, and they too have accessed empowering inner clarity, even when that clarity was: “It’s not time to decide yet — it’s not clear yet. I’m not meant to know anything beyond what’s present now.”
And then last autumn, while attuning to the curriculum for the Creative Nourishment series I led, I felt guided to share this process with a group for the first time – and the words that came through were Mystical Decision Making. It was one of my favorite classes shared in that series - and the immensely positive feedback I received from this class inspired me to re-record it and create this as a standalone offering for anyone yearning for a dedicated space to lean into the wisdom residing within.
If you’d like to learn this repeatable process to inwardly explore your options and the possibilities present in your world, I invite you to receive it!
It includes an introduction video that helps set you up for the meditation by attuning to your intuitive language and clarifying your intention.
The Mystical Decision Making process involves a guided meditation with optional breathwork that you can return to again and again. Finally, I offer reflection and integration prompts to help you metabolize the guidance that emerged for you and get grounded in your next steps.
Life is a continuous series of invitations, and with so much outside noise and influence, it can be challenging to know how you really feel and what you sincerely yearn for.
While there are several factors that go into making decisions in life — especially big ones — this process is designed to offer you an accessible way to partner with Spirit and explore the insights embedded in the wisdom of your inner world.
I cherish this process deeply and feel honored to be able to offer it to you today. You can receive the details and sign up here!
Love,
Madeline