Self-awareness, particularly accuracy in decoding the internal cues of our body's murmurs, holds the key. Our subtle psychological reactions reflect the sum total of our experiences relevant to the decision at hand. (We make the best decisions we can with all the information we have at hand. That is why information is only potential power)
The decision rules derived from our life experiences reside in subcortical neural networks that gather, store and apply algorithms from every event in our lives - creating our "inner rudder". The brain harbors our deepest sense of purpose and meaning in these subcortical regions - these areas are connected poorly to the verbal areas of the neocortex, but richly to "the Gut". We know our values by first getting visceral sense of what feels right and what does not, then articulating those feelings for ourselves.
Self Awareness, then represents an essential focus, one that attunes us to the subtle murmurs within that can help guide our way though life. And, as wee see, this inner radar hold the key t managing what we do - and just as important, what we DON'T do! This internal control mechanism makes all the difference between a life well lived and one that falters.
"What all this means is that our Unconscious which is so much more powerful than our conscious mind is always operating in the background and we call it the gut. This "gut" is the precursor to all our actions/reactions and life. Learning to be in-tuned to and paying attention to this "intuition" is an untapped resource we have been "taught" to ignore. Stop Ignoring this and embrace it!
The above non-italic is An excerpt from the book 'Focus - by Daniel Goleman'