I Wish I Had-The Magic Crystal Ball

I wish I knew the answer. I want to make the right choices. I want to do the right thing. I wish I had the magic crystal ball.poem by laura, crystal ball

How often do we feel this way? If only over and over again.

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I wish I had the magic crystal ball

In life, it is inevitable that at times you will feel lost and inadequate at making decisions that will affect the rest of your life. At the time you decide what to do you don’t know if it is right or wrong. You do the best you can.

You find yourself wanting to talk about it because maybe someone with more experience will have the answer for you.

Talking to others doesn’t help.

When you bring it up, you get different reactions from other people. They will say, “don’t worry about it” and “just have faith.”

That is easy for them to say because you have faith and you try so hard not to worry. But the decision you make will affect yours and your family’s future, so you have to worry about it. Or you think you have to worry about it.

So, what do you do?

So, what do you do? Here we have a million-dollar question with the answer that keeps going back to “I wish I had the magic crystal ball.” That would make life so easy if we could see into the future. But we don’t, and we don’t know what is ahead.

You can have faith and give it to God. You know he will take care of you. But you keep taking the problem back when you know that is not the right thing to do.

4 processing steps to make the decision

The first thing to do is to figure out how to handle the worry that keeps clouding your judgment. Here are some suggestions;

  1. Reprogram; It goes back to the positive thinking process. You have to reprogram your mind to let the problem go. You don’t have to let go of the situation, but you do have to release the problem. Fill your mind with peaceful thoughts. Clear the cobwebs from your brain.
  2. Think logically; The situation is you have a decision to make. The problem is you are worried you will not make the right decision. So, you put the situation down on paper, weigh out the pros and cons and make a decision.
  3. Go with your gut feeling; Your gut feeling is usually right when you weighed the pros and cons and approached the situation logically.
  4. Trust yourself; Don’t go back and rethink your choice. You trust yourself to make the best of what is ahead of you without the thought of what if. What if I mess up? What if I’m not supposed to do this? And a million more what ifs.

You have peace of mind, and your thoughts are positive. You looked at the problem logically. You engaged your gut feeling. Now you proceed with the decision. Period, that’s it! Your need for the magic crystal ball is getting farther away.

It sounds easy, but it doesn’t always feel this simple. It can be if you stick to the logical process.

But what if it isn’t the right decision? There you go again with the “what ifs.”

4 steps to handle worry

Now this subject is a tough one. Worriers are worriers, and they make it a part of their life to worry about everything. I do have a few suggestions for you.

  1. Occupy your mind; A busy mind is a healthy mind. When you keep busy thinking about productive things, your brain has less tendency to worry. I use my online business and writing to occupy my mind. If you have idle time try volunteering or spend more time in prayer.
  2. Did worry change anything; Will your anxiety change a situation. You think about something all the time. It consumes your mind. When you look at the situation has it changed because you spent so much time worrying about the outcome? NO, it did not change a thing.
  3. Relax, meditate and prayer; Worry produces anxiety. When you visibly relax your shoulders, your posture and calm your breathing the worry at hand has nowhere to go but away. You may need to do this action continuously until it becomes a habit.
  4. Set a time limit; I am not making light of a hard situation. So if you want to worry, then you have a right to do so. But why not set a time limit on it.

Decide how long you will torture yourself with worry. Will it be 5 minutes, 3 hours or a day. Don’t let it go on very long. Once you have set your limit, then sit down and worry.

Conjure up every horrible thing that can happen. Heavily dwell on the worry. When your set time is complete you, have to stop. Take a look at how you dramatized the problem and do not worry about it again.

This process works for me in numerous situations. I was amazed at how much better I feel when my time is up.

Conclusion

Now you have concrete ways to make a decision and stop worrying. I am sure you still wish you had a magic ball to see the future. I know I do. But that will never happen, and it is not the answer.

When faced with a decision write down the dilemma. Take a few minutes to reprogram your mind to think about it positively. Line out the pros and cons that will happen for different scenarios like if you say yes or if you say no.

Once you have set it down on paper with the pros and cons check your gut feeling. What does it tell you to do?

And above all trust yourself to make the best decision for the moment at hand.

The magic crystal ball would still be fun, but it is not a logical answer to your situation.

As for worry, you have to stop. It is a counterproductive process. Find something to occupy your thoughts and something to do with your mind. Your anxiety will not change the outcome of anything so practice relaxing.

If you need to worry then only do it for an allotted amount of time. When your time is up let it go.

Sit down with my suggestion and work through each step. I am sure you will find it much easier to make a decision that you can feel good about and stand by. Now throw that wish for the magic crystal ball out the door because it will only create more problems for you.

I am here for you and would love to answer any questions you may have. Please share your experiences with all of us. Your input helps all of us to grow into a stronger person.

Thank you for stopping by to read and please leave comments in the comment section below. I will be back with you very shortly.

10 thoughts on “I Wish I Had-The Magic Crystal Ball”

  1. I really enjoyed reading this article! I find myself to be a worrier. I will apply the four steps to handle worry!

    I agree that prayer is so important! In the end, God is in control. There is power in prayer, and it is best to trust in Him.

    I also agree that worry doesn’t help things. In fact, as you mentioned, worry can make the problem seem bigger than it actually is!

    Thank you for writing such an uplifting article!

    Reply
    • Isabelle, Thank you it is my pleasure. Worry is not good but we all do it. It is a learning process and takes time to change. with God’s help, you will get this. Thank you for stopping by.

      Reply
  2. Hi Laura

    This is a really nice post. I would change one thing though. In the 4 steps to make a decision…item 4, I think, should be trust God. Going with your gut (item 3) is also trusting the God is directing you to the right decision. You may not like the path, but if that is the direction you need to go, sometimes it can be nerve-racking.

    I believe God has a plan for each one of us. I also believe that God always answers prayers and requests. Sometimes, however, the answer from God is no, or at least not yet. 🙂

    Cheers,

    Dave

    Reply
    • Dave, I have given a lot of thought to your comment. I left you a response but have thought about it more, and it helped me decide what I want to say.

      When life has deeply hurt a person, they may not want to hear that God is good. It takes time for someone to heal and this post can help that person heal, and God can draw them in.

      When I write the poems and writing pours out of me. Often I am not sure what I have written until I go back to edit. I believe this is the Lord using me to help others.

      I do have a story for you.

      We have our house on the market to sell. It has been six months. Our house if almost the perfect house in every way but no one is making an offer.

      Last week I prayed and told God “I just don’t understand. If we are not in your will then please let me know.”

      I thought I heard him say Isiah 56, so, I went and read Isiah 56. It had nothing to do with our situation.

      Today when I was riding my bike as my daily exercise I was reading a book. In this book, it talked about Isiah 55 8-9. Tears came to my eyes because of the faithfulness of My God to come back to me and give me an answer in a different way.

      God is good, and I trust him to put the words on paper for each article as he wants them. He knows who these posts are for and he will reach the right people.

      Your suggestion is a perfect one indeed, and I do appreciate you. I felt compelled to write to you this response to help explain why I didn’t place scripture in this post.

      Reply
  3. Yes, I`ve wished to have that magic ball too! 

    I am in the midst of a very big decision making right now.  I have to let go of something I have worked hard. It is hard because to some people, I should let it go.  But my gut feeling tells me not to. Do I have to follow this gut feeling? 

    For me, if eventually, I followed my decision to NOT letting go, I know I am ready to suffer the consequences. 

    What do you think about this?

    Reply
    • Hanna, This is a tough question. I don’t know your situation so I can not tell you yes or no. What I can tell you is to follow the steps I have laid out. Write down your pros and cons. Look them over very carefully and trust yourself to make the right decision. This trust is the same as following your gut. 

      I can tell you that if you are in an unsafe situation it is imperative that you choose safety. 

      If you are a Christian then to pray for God’s plan is the very best thing to do. 

      Take your time and do what you know is right not what everyone else tells you is right. 

      Reply
  4. Thank you for your inspiring words – this is truly what I needed to hear at this point in my life. We tend to focus too much on our problems until they consume our lives without really considering what we’d like the solution to look like or how to get to that point. If we find a way to distance ourselves and stand in a place of peace, perhaps the quiet of our minds would be all we needed in the first place. Thanks again for your wonderful suggestions.

    Reply
    • Shannon, you have stated this so well. So often the worry will take place of finding a solution. But peace will clarify everything for us. 

      Reply
  5. It’s obvious that we tend to worry too much about what’s going to happen in the future and we’re not focusing enough on the present. I have recently started meditating for about 10 minutes each morning right after I wake up, this starts me off on the right path and I find that it’s much easier to stay away from negative thoughts.

    Most of the time worrying gets out of hand only if you let it, as long as you don’t let yourself spiral out of control you will be fine. Thanks for this article.

    Reply
    • You are so welcome. Worry is hard to contain and it will spiral out of control if not dealt with. Keep positive thoughts. 

      Reply

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