Episode 108: Am I Having a Thought or a Prompting

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 You know the number one thing that causes decision fatigue in your life? Not knowing if you’re having a thought or a prompting. The more decisions you make throughout the day, the harder each decision becomes. Eventually, the brain looks for shortcuts to circumvent decision fatigue, leading to poor decision-making or even inaction and procrastination. Do you ever find yourself there? Just not sure what to do or not wanting to do it because you’re too exhausted? You might be getting decision fatigue. 

Also, the decisions you often end up making are poor ones which involve the care of your own mind and body because you sacrificed all your decision making ability and energy on others throughout the day. I see so many women making one very big mistake in this regard. They start thinking that every good thought is the spirit telling them it’s a prompting. So then they start acting in the name of Christ to help everyone else to the point of exhaustion because helping someone else is a good thought right?

Well, I am going to have an unpopular opinion here. I don’t think that all thoughts that pop into our mind to do good things are promptings. It isn’t what the action is that makes it a prompting, but the motivation behind it. Now hang on with me while I explain a concept so you know what I mean here.

We all have a natural man inside of us that can have thoughts. We also have our divine true selves that has promptings. By spiritual law, the natural man cannot receive revelation, just thoughts. That’s because the natural man is an enemy to God. Enemy meaning opposing force from God and not in alignment with God’s will.

The natural man has the opposite motivation from God. The natural man’s sole motivation is self focused. When we are self focused we will be coming from a place of never ending not enoughness. The reason you can fall into this trap of never feeling enough is because we are trying to feel fulfilled without God. That is impossible!

Acting on a thought from this state will never feel good enough. This will only reinforce thoughts like, “That wasn’t enough”, “that won’t make a difference”, “that was stupid and unnecessary”, “I never saw a result so it didn’t make a difference.”

Also, acting on thoughts from our natural man keeps us from acting on revelation again because it feels unnecessary. This can then build distrust in yourself and a feeling of distance from God. You will then start questioning what you are being told and start wondering if you’re having a thought or a prompting.

One way to tell if you are acting on a thought from the natural man is having an urgent feeling to do it for self gratification. To feel better about yourself. Doesn’t service do that though? Doesn’t service make you feel better? Yes it does, but only done from the right state of mind. 

I am sure you have served and at the end of it felt, “that probably didn’t make a difference anyway,” “They never said thank you,” or perhaps, “I don’t know what I was supposed to do that for.” Those thoughts are coming from the natural man.

Your divine self receives inspiration because your divine self is connected to God and receives a fluid stream of revelation and promptings. Anything done in this state is done for the building up of the kingdom of God. In your divine self you can still feel nervous about doing the prompting but also a sense of peace at the same time. You can have clarity but not a full understanding of what will happen. 

Following a prompting out of your divine self will give you confidence, a feeling of self love and feeling better. But it isn’t the reason you are doing it. Following a prompting from the natural man will never feel satisfactory. We are only doing it for ourselves, not for the greater good of building the kingdom of God. 

If you are encountering decision making from your natural man all day long, you can see how exhausted you can get. Never knowing if you are making the right decision. Also, having a follow up of flooding thoughts about not feeling good enough or if that decision will ever make a difference. 

When you start to recognize when you were receiving revelation, you can move forward quicker. You will feel more satisfaction in your decisions and have more energy to take care of you in the process. I love this quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley about this very subject. He said,

“How do we know the things of the Spirit? How do we know that it is from God? By the fruits of it. If it leads to growth and development, if it leads to faith and testimony, if it leads to a better way of doing things, if it leads to godliness, then it is of God. If it tears us down, if it brings us into darkness, if it confuses us and worries us, if it leads to faithlessness, then it is of the devil” 

There it is! What is the result? How is it making you feel? Learning to make decisions from your divine self is the most effective way to cut down decision fatigue and be able to make better decisions to care for yourself.

Another thing to keep in mind is when you do not following a prompting when it is given then satan has the opportunity to convince you to ignore the prompting all together. Have you ever had a clear prompting and felt uncomfortable so you didn’t do it right away. Then you had thoughts like, “I don't even know that person," "I don’t even know what I would say," "I don't know how to do that thing you're asking me to do.” You may also have thoughts like “I should feel comfortable when I receive a prompting otherwise it’s not a prompting.”  Those thoughts open up the power of Satan to pull you away from your divine self.  

On the other hand, following through with promptings enables you to access God’s powers to do what you couldn’t do on your own. Elder Rasband taught about this very thing when he said,

“We must be confident in our first promptings. Sometimes we rationalize; we wonder if we are feeling a spiritual impression or if it is just our own thoughts. When we begin to second-guess, even third-guess, our feelings—and we all have—we are dismissing the Spirit; we are questioning divine counsel. First promptings are pure inspiration from heaven. When they confirm or testify to us, we need to recognize them for what they are and never let them slip past”

Learning about the natural man and knowing when you are acting from that state is a big concept but also vital to receiving revelation and decreasing decision fatigue. Making decisions from the natural man state can cause a lot of stress in your life. In fact, the natural man is the main contributor to most stress in your life. Which is why I have created an exciting new class I have never taught before. It’s called Sink Stress Spiritually. If you are faithful woman who is feeling stressed, distracted and overwhelmed and you would like to rid your mind and body of stress in less than 20 minutes without interrupting your busy day, then this class is for you! I will be teach you mental health skills through a spiritual lens. In this 90 minute one time class you will walk away being able to 

 Feel Peace and Clarity in your thoughts to make decisions simply

 Have more Energy and Motivation to tackle your ToDo list 

 Understand how to easily tell if you are having a thought or a prompting 

 As soon as you register for the class you will be sent an email with the workbook and Zoom Link for the class. Please keep in mind, this class is not therapy. However, it is the same type of mental health skills I teach my therapy clients but now with gospel terminology. It's also the same skills I teach in my individual coaching sessions for an 80% discount on the price. Class will be held LIVE on Monday July 17, 2023 @ 9:00 AM MST over Zoom. 

You will meet other women who are experiencing similar life challenges. Connecting with other women with the same beliefs and feeling validated in your circumstances is also a transformational experience. you are welcome to keep your camera off as well if you prefer. As a bonus, you will have lifetime access to the recording of the class. So if you can't make it live to class, you will have immediate access to watch afterwards. These are skills that will apply to any area of your life. Anytime you feel yourself becoming stressed, overwhelmed or unfocused, come watch the replay and refresh your ability to use the skills.