How To Find Clarity When You Don’t Know What To Do
We all have to make decisions in life, right? It’s a safe assumption that we are supposed to be doing something with our lives. But what if we don’t know what that looks like? If you need a clarity on something in your life, I’m here to help. I’ve got some answers for you that come straight from personal experience.
This blogging journey that I have been on has been a case study in clarity from day one.
Once I first saw that my purpose was to help others through the medium of writing, I was stuck with the task of finding out how. I’m still in the mode of fine-tuning my direction but I had some major shifts, to begin with. Would you believe it if I told you my first attempt at blogging was on the topic of how to be a dynamic basketball player? And I have never played a game of basketball in my life!
But, as time has gone on, I can clearly see a narrowing-in on the direction I am supposed to go. It is an absolutely true statement that I have found monumental clarity as I have walked this path. Here are three keys to finding your own clarity when it just isn’t coming.
STEP 1- Pray
That’s right, pray. Big doses of it. I have learned to pray at nearly every step on my journey and I honestly believe it has made THE difference.
Prayer is powerful in three specific ways:
First, prayer focuses you.
It forces you to summarize the problem which boosts clarity in its own right. If nothing else it gets your mind off of a million other distractions and on to the one situation that needs to be addressed.
As a student of creativity, I’ve come to understand that when we ask a clear question our subconscious mind can then begin to go about the process of solving it. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes in our minds. Without any conscious attention at all our minds are governing everything from blood circulation to respiration to digestion. And, it turns out, our minds are always working to solve the problems we present to it.
Michael Michalko is a creativity expert that sheds some light on this topic this way:
“Your subconscious mind will continue to work on a problem long after you leave it. This is known as incubating the problem.”
I believe that prayer helps us incubate solutions by clearly presenting the problem to our subconscious. After we pray our minds have the opportunity to incubate answers. But we first have to give it some focus and prayer does just that.
Second, prayer opens us up to possibility.
Let’s admit it, we haven’t been able to find clarity on our own up to this point. That’s why we’re here. A very good reason why we’re still hazy is that we likely have a mental lock. We’ve honed in on some nebulous ideas of what the solution to our life’s problem should be and we just can’t seem to shed them. This closes off our field of sight giving effectively giving us tunnel vision.
Prayer, however, has the ability to open us up to all sorts of possibility. It makes a great metaphor for opening up your mind and allowing new light to come in. I picture it like a tight bud opening up into a radiant flower. The flower can now receive all it needs from the sun when it was entirely closed-off before. And it lives a beautiful, functional life while doing it.
Related: Open Things (Flowers)
It makes sense since prayer really is a looking outside of ourselves for answers.
The act of prayer helps release us from our mental locks and allows us to be receptive to new ideas. As we reject old ways of thinking we eliminate limits. I can’t think of anything more spiritual than being free from limits.
Think about this: if there were no physical limits in life our eyes could see with perfect clarity.
If my eyes were not limited by flaws, how much better could I see?
If air quality was not limited by a billion tiny particles, how much better could I see?
If there were no obstacles in my way, how much better could I see?
Limits impede our sight and prayer is a method of accepting possibility that clears those limits.
Third, with prayer, God brings His power to the problem.
Prayer is a humble dependence on God, an admission that we don’t have it all figured out. And guess what? God honors the humble.
Look what James 4:6 tells us:
“But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.'”
What happens when you show favor to someone? It means you help them. If you have the choice of paying any sort of attention between two people but you favor one over the other you are going to be paying attention to the one you favor.
To get straight to the point, God answers prayer.
John 14:14 records Jesus’ words this way:
“You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
That’s pretty succinct, isn’t it?
It also helps to ask persistently.
The account given in Luke 11:5-10 illustrates the power of this perfectly:
Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.”
I’ve got to tell you that as I ask for clarity, I find it. Never all at once mind you—I wouldn’t have to have continued reliance on God if He plopped the full answer on me. But it always does come just when I need it and just enough to get to the next step. Begin always with prayer and your clarity will come.
STEP 2- Begin
But we also have our own part to fulfill in finding our clarity and that is to begin. Like I did, you will find that the answers only really begin to flow after we start.
Have you ever tried to steer a parked car? You won’t be able to change direction very easily. Only once you begin to move forward will you find the ability to adjust your course.
It’s the same with your problem you’re facing right now.
I’ve only truly had clarity improve as I progress. When all I do is sit and think about what I need to figure out I never get anywhere. The only thing it seems like I accomplish is to solidify the fact that I don’t know anything.
Starting down a path when you can’t see the way is a little scary, to be sure. It’s going to take three things to get started and manage our way through it:
First, you need faith.
When we begin and expect the answers to come, this is called faith.
Faith helps us to step forward with that first step because we know we will find what we are looking for.
Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) defines it this way:
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
The key words here are confidence and especially assurance. Assurance implies that you have reason to believe as in someone or something assured you everything would be okay.
A couple things can assure me in moving forward:
- Again, going back to the promise that my prayer will be answered.
- Or, if I am proceeding in what I believe to be a calling, I can rest assured that God will give me all I need to fulfill it.
Related: The One Sure Way To Guarantee Success
Faith is critical to begin because without it I might not have enough internal motivation to get over my fear, doubt, or cynicism.
But just because you actually do begin doesn’t mean that you have no more room for faith. Sometimes after we start we can feel pretty good because we actually do find ourselves making progress toward clarity. However, that direction doesn’t extend indefinitely into the future. We have to keep expecting the answers will come.
Jack Canfield shared one of my favorite analogies about this in The Secret. He says:
“Think of a car driving through the night. The headlights only go a hundred to two hundred feet forward, and you can make it all the way from California to New York driving through the dark, because all you have to see is the next two hundred feet. And that’s how life tends to unfold before us. If we just trust that the next two hundred feet will unfold after that, and the next two hundred feet will unfold after that, your life will keep unfolding. And it will eventually get you to the destination of whatever it is you truly want, because you want it.”
Finding clarity is like that car on the road of life. It takes faith to light the way. You’re never going to see all the way to New York but you will always be able to see what you need to at the moment.
Second, you need intuition.
Intuition is an ability to perceive and process information that helps us get to a point of success, in this case, clarity. When we choose to rely on our intuition we can not only get started on the process of clarity but continue to find our way through it.
I believe that intuition is a sense similar to sight or any of the other physical senses. But this sense is perceptive to unseen influences as opposed to visible or audible.
God has always guided His people. On several occasions in biblical account, this has been audible in nature (Moses or Joshua come to mind among many others).
In today’s world, God doesn’t appear to give audible direction but He still uses impressions to communicate with us and that is through the faculty of intuition.
What’s interesting about intuition to me is that I believe we also contribute to it through our own understanding. In other words, intuition can be strengthened by our own experiences.
The more experienced I am in an endeavor the more intuition I have about proceeding. I develop an innate ability to “see” solutions.
But, in our case here, that’s just the point—we don’t really have any clarity at all yet. We are trying to find it from a clear slate.
And in times like these, as we move forward in faith, we trust that God will guide us as we receive direction from Him.
Intuition requires a receptivity to God’s direction. We need to be open and seeking in order to identify it and make sense of it.
Related: 3 Powerful Steps To Improve Your Intuition
Third, you need inspiration.
Where intuition is guidance system, inspiration is a complete revelation of how to do something.
Inspiration is really the unicorn of finding clarity. That’s because with it I discover big pieces of the puzzle at a time.
Inspiration gave me such a boost of clarity at the moment of my calling it felt like a Big Bang.
Related: The Story of My Calling
Like intuition, I have a part and so does God. It’s a miraculous union that creates a powerful one-two punch.
In either case, it is a revealing of how to move forward. Again, the answers won’t be complete. But they are sudden and can hyperlink me forward in a single big jump.
Inspiration is like the “a-ha” moment of creativity when something comes together for us. We finally “see” our answer and can act on it.
Generally, inspiration seems to require some kind of disruption. In other words, something happens to knock us out of our entrenched ways of thinking. At times I think inspiration is just the vision that has always been on the other side of our assumptions. It’s just that we could never see it while our assumptions were in place.
So, again, we have to be open to the possibility of disruption and welcome it even if it can be uncomfortable.
But if we can, we can move forward in the process of finding clarity knowing we will find the answers along the way.
Related: What is the difference between inspiration and intuition?
STEP 3- Stay Flexible
Here’s the difficult truth about clarity—you seldom go from no clue to absolute certainty in one straight line. Your initial assumptions will reveal to you what is working and what isn’t and you will have to adjust the sails along the way.
When I first started blogging my topic choices went something like this: Basketball, how to be a champion in sports, how to be a champion in sports and life, how to figure out what you want to do in life (ironic, isn’t it?), spirituality, and now spirituality and self-improvement so that you can live your most powerful life.
I can feel that I’m very close to being dialed-in now. But the first couple of years included a lot of adjustment. I’ve had to stay very flexible along the way. That includes not being discouraged by the detours. On the contrary, as I keep gaining clarity I find so much joy at each step which motivates me even further.
But I haven’t always been known for staying flexible.
When I was in design school I had a strong tendency to cling to the first design solution that had any promise at all. But any creative person, including me now, will tell you that is the worst way to solve problems. You have to find flexibility because design is an iterative process.
A great designer establishes the problem, finds the constraints, makes some assumptions, and sketches several solutions. As those solutions become more developed they reveal flaws. And this is where my design ability would always break down—I didn’t want to admit that my idea needed to be reworked. Honestly, I just didn’t want to go through the effort.
This lack of flexibility always bit me and I would end the project with a weak design.
Being open to revision this way is the same when trying to find clarity in any solution. Stay flexible so you can improve through each iteration of the process.
Keep a loose grip on your assumptions and see how they play out. Go in understanding that there will need to be some adjustments and then revise as necessary. Whatever you do, don’t get locked in on one train of thinking and you’re sure to find a clarity that improves over time.
Take Away
Clarity is a process. I really think one of the main reasons that people don’t find success is that they are looking for the big win in going straight to the answer. When that doesn’t happen they get discouraged and quit.
I’ve presented three keys to finding clarity that has helped me immensely. I’m positive that these three things can help you as well.
The problem is it’s too easy to dismiss them. That’s why we fail in anything—because we think we don’t need to follow the critical steps.
I will tell you that those who do succeed in things do follow the foundational steps. For you, it’s no different in finding clarity.
If you need clarity, begin by praying about it—not just flippantly, but earnestly.
Then, begin. Just start (or keep) going with whatever it is you are seeking a clearer vision for.
And, finally, stay flexible. No boat can cross the ocean in one step so batten down for the long haul. This means you are going to have to work to steer and adjust the sails every step of the way. But if you stay open to the thousand tiny adjustments, you will reach your destination.
How do you find clarity in YOUR life?
Aaron Force is a blogger from Seattle, Washington. He writes from a point of authenticity, as an outpouring of a spiritual calling and awakening that occurred in April of 2015. His purpose is to help better the lives of his readers with instruction, insight, and inspiration related to spirituality and self-improvement. The story of his remarkable calling can be found (here).
Aaron Force is a blogger from Seattle, Washington. He writes to educate others about the nature of an expanded consciousness to evolve humanity. Aaron unexpectedly experienced his own profound awakening and ego transcendence in 2015 and soon understood that the qualities of his own experience (a greater expansion and evolution in his life) could be applied to mankind collectively.