DecisionClarity – Going Deeper

I have realized over the years that my presentation on decision-making is so crammed with details that LIFE program participants may feel somewhat overwhelmed with information. For those who would like to go deeper, the following may help support you in your personal exploration on DecisionClarity.

InspireHealth integrates conventional or tumor-based treatments with a more person-based model of care. This transition often results in the patient considering a greater range of options, and brings them face to face with challenging, often life-altering decisions. InspireHealth’s role is to help empower patients to make the appropriate decisions for their own healing path. The DecisionClarity model evolved as a direct consequence of the challenge that cancer patients face when considering the multitude of treatment and health options for their cancer.

The concept of patient empowerment has become a hot topic. Kathleen Roberts of the University of California wrote in 1999, “Empowered patients attempt to take charge of their own health and their interactions with health care professionals”. Some empirical evidence suggests that patients actively participating in their healthcare are associated with better outcomes.”* In the years during which I researched the content of my book, I observed that the reason decision-making becomes so difficult for most people is that they get trapped in a battleground of thoughts and feelings. As one breast cancer survivor mentioned, “My rational mind insists that I must have chemotherapy, while my body is screaming out ‘don’t poison me’.”

One of the primary purposes of the DecisionClarity model is to help resolve this conflict by accessing deeper levels of wisdom and assure that the participant feels affirmed in their decision, no matter what it may be. There is a feeling of clarity and wellbeing at the end of a process like this that is very sustaining and can support you in resolving the turmoil that often supports life-changing decisions.

Whether you have attended the LIFE program and this serves as a refresher, or whether you are learning about this model for the first time, I invite you to take a step with me and try it out for yourself:

1. Think of an important and difficult life decision you are currently faced with

2. Visit my website; in the introduction, the decision-making model is outlined with the 4 steps to be followed and a brief description of each step http://www.decisionclarity.com/intro.html

Read the 4 steps carefully, start with step 1, and dive into the process!

Over the course of the following seven days, you will be guided to write some of your answers down, to invite an ‘ally’ to help witness your process and reflect back, to observe and journal about what comes up for you and in your life, and to go deeper, beyond the thought-feeling battleground, into your intuition and inner wisdom.

I would be delighted to hear about how this experience was for you, or of other times in your life when you have been faced with a difficult decision and found your way to your inner wisdom, to a place of clarity and wellbeing. Please email me at: inspirehealth@inspirehealth.ca if you feel inspired to share!

Trevor Simpson presents on decision-making at the Life program. He is a spiritual coach and author of Life’s Little Book for Big Decisions. See www.decisionclarity.com or contact him at trevor@decisionclarity.com