The Wisdom of Hesitation犹豫的智慧

Ever caught yourself waiting before making a decision， but not knowing why？ Explore how hesitation can be a meaningful manifestation of intuition.

你是否发现自己总是在做决定前踌躇再三，却不知为何如此？犹豫源自直觉，是有意义的，其中道理且看下文分析。

You’ve thought about it， you’ve weighed1 the pros and cons， you’ve made your decision and then…you hesitate. Your mouse hovers over the “purchase now” button， you’ve written the text but can’t quite bring yourself to press “send，” or you put your key in the ignition but can’t quite seem to start the car. You hesitate.

深思熟虑，权衡利弊，下定决心，然后……你犹豫了。鼠标光标在“立即购买”选项附近徘徊不定，编辑完信息文本却迟迟无法按下“发送”键，或者已经把车钥匙插进点火开关，但又似乎不能发动汽车。你犹豫了。

Our culture values doing. We are big on2 “going for it，” on taking action， on that valuable next step. And that’s fair. It’s powerful to take action on the things we want， and absolutely to do things that we’re afraid of. This might be an unpopular opinion， but I think there’s a lot of wisdom in listening to our hesitation.

我们所处的文化以“行动”为贵。我们崇尚“全力以赴”，行动至上，看重迈出有价值的下一步，这再合理不过了。付诸行动追求是了不起的，克服恐惧出手更是如此。可能跟大多数人的想法不同，我认为关注内心的犹豫大有智慧。

Why should we listen to our hesitation？

我们为何要关注自己内心的犹豫？

Our minds are powerful and important， but so are our bodies. We don’t always make it a practice to listen to our bodies. When we’re paying attention， we have access to a lot of nonrational information， including， potentially， from our intuition， our spirit guides， God， or whatever our conception of the Divine is. Hesitation can be a signal that there’s something we haven’t considered yet， some hidden information we really need. When we walk up to the door but don’t quite want to open it， it might be a good idea to pause and consider what’s going on in our bodies. Is there something we haven’t been paying attention to？

人的头脑强大且重要，但其实身体也是如此。我们并不总是习惯于关注自己的身体。当我们把注意力集中时，就会得到许多非理性信息，它们可能来自于直觉、精神指引、上帝，或是任何我们对于神性的概念。犹豫可能暗示我们对有些事考虑不周，暗示一些我们真正需要的隐藏信息。当我们走到门口却不大愿意开门时，不妨停下脚步，想想自己的身体反应。自己是不是忽略了什么？

When you notice yourself hesitating， you’re not in an enthusiastic “yes”. An enthusiastic “yes” means every part of you—heart， mind， body， soul—is ready and willing to do the thing. Hesitation means a part of you isn’t quite sure.

当你注意到自己犹豫不决，那就不是处于充满热情的“行”的状态。热情的“行”的状态，意味着你的每一部分——心灵、头脑、身体和灵魂，都已经做好准备并且有意愿去做这件事。犹豫则说明你的某一部分并没有做好准备。

That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a “no，” either. Sometimes that part is fearful， perhaps because of past experiences. If our rational minds know that it’s perfectly safe， we may simply need to reassure3 that part and move forward. That hesitation could also come from a part that knows， on some level， that we’re rushing， that this isn’t the best option， that we’re not quite sure. We may need to gather more information or ensure that we have actually looked at all the other options.

犹豫也不一定就等于“不行”。有时犹豫不决的那部分是在害怕，原因或许是过去的一些经历。如果我们的理性头脑判断情况安全，那么我们仅需安抚好那部分，然后继续下一步行动。犹豫也可能是因为身体某部分在某种程度上意识到，我们只是出于一时冲动，或许还有更好的选择，我们内心其实存有疑虑。也许我们需要收集更多信息，或者确保自己已经考虑了其他所有可能性。

Hesitation as intuition

犹豫是一种直觉

Hesitation can be our intuition trying to talk to us. It’s easy to miss signals from our intuition when we’re always trying to move from our thinking minds. Hesitation can mean your intuition is trying to speak to you from some deep inner place.

犹豫可能是我们的直觉试图和我们对话。我们总是按头脑的思考行事，就很容易错过直觉给出的提示。犹豫不决可能意味着你内心深处的直觉正在尝试跟你交流。

It’s XTM4cl3Ls9zoLOIxMd0rnQ==not always easy to know the difference between our intuition and， for example， our fear， anxiety， or trauma triggers4. When we’re in a consistent practice of listening to ourselves and our bodies and when we know our fears and triggers well and can tell the difference between a lack of safety and a reasonable risk， our hesitation can be a valuable source of intuitive information.

将直觉和恐惧、焦虑或创伤诱因等区分开来，并不总是一件容易的事。当我们不断关注自己和自己的身体时，当我们熟知自己的恐惧和诱因，并且分得清什么是危险、什么是合理范围内的冒险时，我们就可以从犹豫中获得来自直觉的宝贵信息。

Most of us try to make decisions with our rational minds. That makes sense—our rational minds have a lot of good qualities. But they don’t catch everything， and they tend to be comfortable sitting in their narratives and frameworks for how the world works， which isn’t always reflective of reality. When we can sit with our thoughts and emotions around a certain decision， it can give us a lot more information than when we think alone.

大多数人试图用理性头脑做决定。这么做是明智的，因为理性头脑有诸多优点。但理性并非万全，它容易使人沉浸在自己的叙事和思维框架内看待这个世界，而看到的东西并不总是与现实相符。当我们同时用思想和情感来做某个决定时，所获取的信息量远胜于单纯依赖思考。

One way that we can help ourselves with a specific decision is to notice when there’s hesitation and， if you have the time， wait. Sleep on it. Give it a week， even. Check back in with the decision you thought you made and see if anything feels different. Another interesting way to look at making a decision is to walk up to the door of it. Take action as if you had already made the decision and， before it’s irreversible5， of course， notice how it feels to walk that path. That may give you more information than thinking ever could.

在做某个决定时，我们可以帮助自己的一个方法就是犹豫时提高警惕，以及如果时间允许就等一等。留待次日，甚至给它一周的时间。然后回头看看你认为自己已经做好的决定，看看是否有什么地方感觉不同。另一个帮助自己做决定的有趣方法就是直接行动。采取行动，就像你已经决定好的那样，当然，在事情尚可挽回之前，留意行动的感觉。相比单纯思考，这样做可能会为你提供更多信息。

（译者单位：大连外国语大学高级翻译学院）

1 weigh权衡，考虑。 2 be big on喜欢，热衷于。

3消除恐惧或疑虑。

4 trauma trigger创伤触发因素。

5不可逆转的，不可挽回的。