The Wisdom of Hesitation猶豫的智慧

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

你是否發現自己總是在做決定前躊躇再三，卻不知為何如此？猶豫源自直覺，是有意義的，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.

深思熟慮，權衡利弊，下定決心，然后……你猶豫了。鼠標光標在“立即購買”選項附近徘徊不定，編輯完信息文本卻遲遲無法按下“發送”鍵，或者已經把車鑰匙插進點火開關，但又似乎不能發動汽車。你猶豫了。

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.

我們所處的文化以“行動”為貴。我們崇尚“全力以赴”，行動至上，看重邁出有價值的下一步，這再合理不過了。付諸行動追求是了不起的，克服恐懼出手更是如此。可能跟大多數人的想法不同，我認為關注內心的猶豫大有智慧。

Why should we listen to our hesitation？

我們為何要關注自己內心的猶豫？

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？

人的頭腦強大且重要，但其實身體也是如此。我們并不總是習慣于關注自己的身體。當我們把注意力集中時，就會得到許多非理性信息，它們可能來自于直覺、精神指引、上帝，或是任何我們對于神性的概念。猶豫可能暗示我們對有些事考慮不周，暗示一些我們真正需要的隱藏信息。當我們走到門口卻不大愿意開門時，不妨停下腳步，想想自己的身體反應。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.

當你注意到自己猶豫不決，那就不是處于充滿熱情的“行”的狀態。熱情的“行”的狀態，意味著你的每一部分——心靈、頭腦、身體和靈魂，都已經做好準備并且有意愿去做這件事。猶豫則說明你的某一部分并沒有做好準備。

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.

猶豫也不一定就等于“不行”。有時猶豫不決的那部分是在害怕，原因或許是過去的一些經歷。如果我們的理性頭腦判斷情況安全，那么我們僅需安撫好那部分，然后繼續下一步行動。猶豫也可能是因為身體某部分在某種程度上意識到，我們只是出于一時沖動，或許還有更好的選擇，我們內心其實存有疑慮。也許我們需要收集更多信息，或者確保自己已經考慮了其他所有可能性。

Hesitation as intuition

猶豫是一種直覺

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.

猶豫可能是我們的直覺試圖和我們對話。我們總是按頭腦的思考行事，就很容易錯過直覺給出的提示。猶豫不決可能意味著你內心深處的直覺正在嘗試跟你交流。

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.

將直覺和恐懼、焦慮或創傷誘因等區分開來，并不總是一件容易的事。當我們不斷關注自己和自己的身體時，當我們熟知自己的恐懼和誘因，并且分得清什么是危險、什么是合理范圍內的冒險時，我們就可以從猶豫中獲得來自直覺的寶貴信息。

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.

大多數人試圖用理性頭腦做決定。這么做是明智的，因為理性頭腦有諸多優點。但理性并非萬全，它容易使人沉浸在自己的敘事和思維框架內看待這個世界，而看到的東西并不總是與現實相符。當我們同時用思想和情感來做某個決定時，所獲取的信息量遠勝于單純依賴思考。

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.

在做某個決定時，我們可以幫助自己的一個方法就是猶豫時提高警惕，以及如果時間允許就等一等。留待次日，甚至給它一周的時間。然后回頭看看你認為自己已經做好的決定，看看是否有什么地方感覺不同。另一個幫助自己做決定的有趣方法就是直接行動。采取行動，就像你已經決定好的那樣，當然，在事情尚可挽回之前，留意行動的感覺。相比單純思考，這樣做可能會為你提供更多信息。

（譯者單位：大連外國語大學高級翻譯學院）

1 weigh權衡，考慮。 2 be big on喜歡，熱衷于。

3消除恐懼或疑慮。

4 trauma trigger創傷觸發因素。

5不可逆轉的，不可挽回的。