What's Your Decision?: How to Make Choices with Confidence and Clarity: An Ignatian Approach to Decision Making

Really nice book - a very easy read; quite practical and helpful without being reductionistic. I’d recommend this to anyone facing decisions who feels uncertain how best to approach them.

This is full of wisdom and practical guidance. It definitely “bears witness” with the Spirit within, and with my understanding of Scripture.

The author lays out a helpful, user-friendly explanation of Ignatian discernment. I wish I had had this book years ago when I was making some major life decisions!

I vividly remember high school and small college football drills where we were taught to hit and recover, to get back up, and to then hit again.Getting back up had one purpose, to hit again before the whistle ended the drill or, when the referee's whistle ended the play. Work (delivering my block) was dead (just not possible) without recovery, getting back up.We all are continually going through that same cycle in our work. From our first day we hit, recover, and hit again. Hit, recover. Recovery, work. Again and agaiNo matter where you are in that cycle today, this little book quickly conveys proven, practical wisdom for both immediate and long term help. As we read, reread, and discuss it, help for those of us who are open to the possibility that God, as we each understands God, loves us, wants us to be happy, and like good parents wants to help us each have our own journey.We welcome you to discuss this book and any others you find helpful at one of our faith sharing groups, see ...]CONTACT ME IF YOU'D LIKE HELP STARTING A SIMILAR GROUP.

A concrete and realistic approach, very much to the point! I especially liked the idea of seeing the decision making process first and foremost as an opportunity to grow in relationship with God. I heartily recommend this to anyone interested in Christian/Ignatian decision making!

This book offers a clear, helpful guide to those of us who desire making good decisions that lead to a deeper, loving relationship with God, self and others. Using the insights and experiences of Ignatius of Loyola, the reader explores a process that honors and taps into the human heart, mind and will. The result is a whole person response that fosters constructive choice and decision. I particularly appreciated what the process teaches me about The Holy, as well as what I learned (and relearned) about myself.

Excellent supplement to Kevin O'Brien's The Ignatian Adventure, a guide to the Spiritual Exercises, updated. While not intended solely for Catholics and intended as a guide to generalized discernment and decision making I found it helpful for my Catholic spirituality.Because this book is written for the modern, secular decision maker, I have learn a vocabulary to use with non-Catholics about Catholic ideas.

I have rarely encountered a book that was so chock full of good ideas but also so well-written front to back. Actually, it doesn't really do the book justice to refer to it as having a bunch of good ideas. The book represents a single very excellent idea in a satisfying and thorough manner. It was easy to follow and easy to trust: the decision process is Godly and and can me made reliable, if conviction and peace of mind in the decision is the goal. I can see myself working through the process prescribed over time, in the course of normal life. I can recommend this book unreservedly to any person.

There are many books to get on discernment. I liked this one for the reason that the language is one of everyday use - it is easy to follow and relate to. I think deep down we can know what we want. For me, it is stripping away the fears to welcome the right decision into my life. If you are struggling with making good decisions, give this book a go. I found it very helpful and encouraging overall.

"What's Your Decision?: How to Make Choices with Confidence and Clarity - An Ignatian Approach to Decision Making" is a really excellent book showing how Christians can discern the will of God when making important, defined decisions - e.g. (i) do I marry A or not?; (ii) do I stay in my existing job B or move to job C which I have just been offered?; or (iii) do I change my career from D by doing a course to train for a new career E, or not?. It shows how the "Spiritual Exercises" of St. Ignatius of Loyola can be used to achieve this discernment of the will of God in your life. St. Ignatius' original book "Spiritual Exercises" is almost 500 years old and is apparently a quite difficult read - so the "What's Your Decision?" book (or another similar, easily-understood book) is needed as an easy explanation of St Ignatius' principles, to help modern readers to work out how to do the discernment exercises.Re discernment: When you are thinking about whether or not to do something, or whether to go for choice A or choice B, the books shows that, after praying for the knowledge of God's will and for clarity and freedom, the FINAL, deep "feeling" associated with each alternative choice indicates to you whether or not each choice is the will of God (who wants what is best and right for you). Generally, for Christians seeking to do good, the "correct" choice (God's will) is associated with FINAL feelings of spiritual "consolation" (e.g. peace, calmness, contentedness and/or joy) whereas the "wrong" choice is associated with FINAL feelings of spiritual "desolation" (e.g. unease, tension, agitation, turmoil, and/or unhappiness).The best example of how discernment works is what happened to St Ignatius himself. During his long recovery from a war-wound, he was drawn to two different futures for himself - (a) to become a Catholic priest, (b) to resume life as a valiant soldier and to woo women in court. Both were associated with INITIAL nice & happy feelings. Page 32 of the book says: "... dreams of following Jesus alternated with dreams of following romance. .... All of [St Ignatius'] daydreams pleased him while he was dreaming but the emotional aftermath differed. He was calm and peaceful after he dreamed of following Christ. He was agitated and sad after daydreaming of machismo, lust and honour. Ignatius realised that these feelings had spiritual meaning. ... God was communicating to him through his emotions. ... His fantasies were not simply daydreams; they represented two directions his life could take. God was using his feelings about these choices to point him in the direction that was best for him to go." [Note to Amazon: this short extract will not be a copyright problem.]Discernment is slightly more complex than I have just described; and there are three different modes of decision-making -(1) "No doubt about it" (when the correct choice is overwhelmingly obvious - eg when you just know she is the right woman/man to marry);(2) "Spiritual Movements" (praying for freedom & knowledge of God's will, and trying the 2 options on for size while noting consolations and desolations - like St Ignatius did);(3) "Calm deliberation" (pray; & list & evaluate advantages & disadvantages; which of the emerging core values seem more consistent with your true self?; make a tentative decision & seek God's confirmation of it).I would recommend reading the full book to find out how to discern properly. There are several other books available which cover the same material with a slightly different emphasis - eg "God's Voice Within - The Ignatian Way to Discover God's Will", by ME Thibodeaux, Loyola Press (ie same publisher), 2010, 230pages; ISBN-13: 978-0-8294-2861-2; ISBN-10: 0-8294-2861-5.I strongly recommend "What's Your Decision?" to all Christians, and not just Catholics, who want to discern the will of God in their lives.

Has helped me contemplate my emotions in the decision making process