Part One of this three step journey to finding your personal plan consists of understanding the process of decision making, and the difference between real desire and illusion. Through this guide, you will also explore the idea of your true values, and see how much decisions vary depending on the mental state (mood or mindset) in which they are made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, it is necessary to define the following concepts: true desire, influences, and fear. Desire is \u201ca longing for something that brings satisfaction or enjoyment\u201d (Dictionary). A desire being \u201ctrue\u201d is what gives you energy and motivation to move forward, while setting aside all doubts that could prevent you from doing so. To influence means \u201cto affect<\/a> or change<\/a> how someone or something develops<\/a>, behaves<\/a>, or thinks<\/a>\u201d (Cambridge). Different influences can alter what and how you think, making you believe in something that pulls you away from your desires. Finally, fear is a subjective feeling we have all experienced at one point. It is \u201can unpleasant emotion or thought that you have when you are frightened or worried by something\u201d (Cambridge). <\/p>\n\n\n\n The key concept one must realize is how different a choice is when made in a fearful versus calm state. When there\u2019s no fear, psychology says \u201cwe perceive ourselves as being in a safe space\u201d (Javanbakht, Arash, and Linda Saab). This is crucial in real life situations because oftentimes, choices that don\u2019t satisfy our true desires are those we make the most. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s explore an easy example of a choice made out of fear: an IB student is in class and doesn\u2019t understand a topic. Their question at that moment is: Should I raise my hand and ask?<\/em> There are two options: raise their hand, and not. Let\u2019s suppose these are the explanations for either choice: If I raise my hand, I will understand this and do better on my test, <\/em>or If I raise my hand, others around me will judge me and the question I asked. <\/em>Let\u2019s say the student didn\u2019t raise their hand. This is an example of how fear prevents people from making a decision they know is beneficial to them\u2026but what happens when the choice we think is best to take, has already been altered by fear?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Continuing with the IB example, the courses you think you want to take might have already been altered, subconsciously, by the fear of not being successful (for example). In this case, the concept of influences play a large role in how a student might pick their IB courses. Throughout their life, if the student\u2019s surrounding influences (such as parents or other family members) have taught them that a guaranteed path to success is to become a doctor, then that most likely will be the student\u2019s belief. Ultimately, the key idea is that the student\u2019s fear of failure or disappointing their parents controls the actions they take, even if their true desire is to pursue a career in a completely different area. In relation to ignoring the decisions you know will benefit you, psychologists use the term *cognitive dissonance to explain this contradictory behavior we can experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beliefs about ourselves and the world impact the choices we make daily. \u201cA belief is something we consider to be a fact. It is anything that we assume to be true.\u201d They are \u201cformed in two ways: by our experiences, inferences and deductions, or by accepting what others tell us to be true\u201d (Skilledatlife). Understanding that the different beliefs one has can be under the influence of fear, allows the mind to consider that there are hidden values that can improve one\u2019s life overall, only if these values weren\u2019t ignored. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Undoubtedly, knowing the difference between real desire and illusion becomes an important step to finding your personal plan. It allows you to look into your true values that were ignored due to the presence of strong beliefs that were formed over time, many of them out of fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lastly, being able to differentiate choices made from a fearful versus calm state (setting aside negative consequences you\u2019re scared of) will create space for thoughts you\u2019ve subconsciously blocked or ignored due to the strength of those pre-formed beliefs. Now is where the most interesting, maybe even surprising step comes into play: you\u2019ll explore anything and everything related to what lifts you up, motivates you, and that which allows you to be your most authentic self. What\u2019s better than being proud of finally becoming the version of yourself you\u2019ve always wanted to be? Come back for Part Two to explore your identity and create an exciting path for your future!<\/p>\n\n\n\n * Cognitive dissonance: the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bibliography:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cambridge. \u201cFEAR | English meaning – Cambridge Dictionary.\u201d Cambridge Dictionary<\/em>, 7 December 2022, https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/dictionary\/english\/fear. Accessed 16 December 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cambridge. \u201cINFLUENCE | English meaning – Cambridge Dictionary.\u201d Cambridge Dictionary<\/em>, 14 December 2022, https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/dictionary\/english\/influence. Accessed 16 December 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n dictionary. \u201cDesire Definition & Meaning.\u201d Dictionary.com<\/em>, 2022, https:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/browse\/desire. Accessed 16 December 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow Beliefs Are Formed and How to Change Them.\u201d Skilled at Life –<\/em>, skilled at life, 2022, https:\/\/www.skilledatlife.com\/how-beliefs-are-formed-and-how-to-change-them\/. Accessed 16 December 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Javanbakht, Arash, and Linda Saab. \u201cWhat Happens in the Brain When We Feel Fear.\u201d Smithsonian Magazine<\/em>, 27 October 2017, https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/science-nature\/what-happens-brain-feel-fear-180966992\/. Accessed 16 December 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Part One of this three step journey to finding your personal plan consists of understanding the process of decision making, and the difference…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion-pieces","category-science-nature","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":717,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715\/revisions\/717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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