Tools for Decision Making | freewill astrology | The Science of Happiness

As is a growing tradition with me, I tend to create and post new blogs in pairs. The other one is http://digesthis.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/the-tradition-of-human-towers-in-catalan/

I’m presently up against making a rather major decision; where to relocate. That’s after living in Berlin, Germany from 2006 to the ‘eve’ of 2012, returning to my home town in the States in Central PA, to spend time with my parents, and now deciding where to from here. Thing is, I’m inhibited by the economic realities which make San Francisco or New York city, less attractive.

I contribute to two blogs, have nearly completed a book project that I hoisted into full gear since I have none of the typical distractions of a thriving metropolis or family of my own, intend to further produce music (live beats on my laptop) and hopefully also play bass in a band. Following my bliss! words of Joseph Campbell.

I really am kind of a self motivator type, the type of work I do is solo (outside of visiting places that host internet access for others also doing free-lance work away from home). After a while, one can feel isolated due to not having a regular ‘workplace’ environment with colleagues that one gets to know over time. Yet that is changing, with more co-working establishments popping up in a variety of towns. Berlin had some, where I met the brothers who were about to open their cooperative work environment in Paris. La Mutinerie. They had been attending a coworking seminar in Berlin at a co-op space the Betahaus and then within 24 hours I met them again where I usually brought my laptop to work, at a cafe in Mitte, Sankt Oberholz, usually swarming with laptops, and an inordinate number of Macs. I hung there regularly, often hearing at least 5 different languages in one little space. Here’s a new one http://co-up.de

All that said, besides reaching out to get feedback from friends, I’m literally with a notepad and pen, honing in to what things are important to me and what kind of community could help me to thrive; not just artistically and with the sports and my enjoyment of outdoor activities, but also in terms of maintaining income.

Knowing that I need to finally make this decision and make it quickly, ironically, today I happened to open up a different web browser (because frankly Mozilla Firefox has been getting on my nerves by always defaulting to Yahoo as my ‘home page’ despite me re-setting it every 5 minutes).

Remembering this saying: “The definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing, and expect different results.”

I decided to just try a different browser and

ba da bing:

upon opening Safari which I’ve used rarely, I realize that not only does it have a slicker interface design in its elegant presentation and functionality, but one window was already opened (as I tend to do when I want to go back to that material) and this was:

The San Francisco Bay Area based astrologer Rob Brezsny’s column, whose words tend to be humorous and his lean towards spiritual growth and insight into one’s own attitude. He often puts the responsibility back to the individual; to be aware of themselves, the attitudes they have and the choices they make.

This one somewhat leaped out at me, since it so resoundingly echoes my current dilemma. Oh, by the way, I’m a Capricorn sun and rising sign, with 3 planets emphasizing Sagittarius and a moon in Scorpio. All of the influences are split between 3 houses; so naturally, I read all three ‘-)) This one was quite targeted! By the way, I’ve had several people ‘do’ my astrological birth chart, interpreting it for me, and writing out all of the influences, with a rather remarkable portrait of what really has influenced me, delineating what characteristics I have, with undeniable accuracy. One of these astrologers, a woman in Taos, New Mexico, said that a person, particularly a female, should pay as much if not more attention to where her moon falls, than the sun sign.

And since this is so accurate, I began with writing two pages attempting to hone into formulating the correct questions of what I need to ask myself regarding where I should reside. Then I decided to google the article mentioned, and well, here it is, yet another angle on the subject of “happiness”; the ongoing theme I’ve been writing about, and which is popular, because more and more people are realizing that we are responsible for our own happiness.

The Science of Happiness by David G. Myers and Ed Diener
Magazine article from The Futurist, Vol. 31, No. 5

Shortly I will read it, and already have a paper out to ‘map out the foundations of my own happiness’.

Of course putting the effort behind doing the work of thinking and writing these exercises on paper, will help me towards narrowing-in on a decision.

And if I were to actually meditate on them (which I have not yet done) my heart may provide me with even more accurate and gut/intuitive information.

http://dimensionalbliss.com/2011/03/23/follow-your-heart-it-is-smarter-than-you-think/