Your feelings serve as an amazing and powerful communication system designed to guide and protect you. While you don't want to be trapped, controlled, or incapacitated by your feelings, you do want to be aware of them and cognizant of what you're experiencing at any given time.

That awareness enables you to assess what's going on in your life and what your feelings are alerting you to, so you can choose how best to respond. 
 
As you strive to become more attuned to your feelings, here are seven feelings you should never ignore.

The overthinking trap: you go back and forth endlessly as you struggle to make a big decision (or perhaps even a not-so-big one). You weigh your options trying to find the best course of action, but instead of making progress, you wind up right back where you started.
 
It's easy to start overthinking when you're aiming for a perfect decision that guarantees everything goes exactly as planned. But given the complexity of life with all its twists and turns, you never know when or how something unexpected might come along and throw things off. At the same time, decisions carry real consequences that can be far-reaching and long-lasting, so it’s worth investing time and care to make the best decisions possible. 

Here are five tips to help you find that healthy middle ground: sound decisions without falling into the trap of overthinking.

Is change good, bad, or something else entirely?

Looking back on some of the major changes in your life, there were probably times when you welcomed change with open arms, eager to discover whatever lay ahead. There have also likely been occasions when instead of welcoming change, you resisted and ran from it — even when you knew change of some sort was unavoidable or perhaps very much needed.

Part of what makes change so unnerving is its inherent unpredictability. Even a minor change in life can be an intense experience that destabilizes us and leaves us feeling disoriented. No matter how much you try to plan and prepare for it, change has the potential to wind up encompassing more than you bargained for.

The following excerpt vividly captures that intensity and that element of the unexpected which change inherently possesses:

People are constantly setting all kinds of goals; that's the easy part. But when it comes time to follow through on those goals, that's the stage where they often get stuck. Even with the best of intentions and a sincere effort, you may feel like you're fighting an uphill battle as you struggle to see your goal through to completion. 
 
The inability to successfully reach a desired goal isn't just frustrating and disheartening. It can lead to a loss of confidence, making you shrink back from pursuing other goals in future. But what if the problem isn't you?  What if the problem isn't some inherent shortcoming on your part, but rather you simply haven't found the right approach for pursuing your goal?

​No-one enjoys feeling conflicted about something transpiring in their life. In addition to being a confusing, frustrating, and draining experience; it can also become a major distraction as you find yourself spending time going back and forth in an attempt to gain clarity. 
 
Fortunately, there are things you can do to begin bringing some much-needed clarity.  The following steps will help you resolve the conflict you're facing, so you feel energized and equipped to move forward with confidence.

You know the feeling: you want to move forward with your plans, but something is holding you back.  You might be struggling to identify exactly what it is and where it's coming from.  But it's there, that nagging feeling of being unsettled that's keeping you from going full steam ahead. 
 
What you're encountering is resistance.  It may be frustrating and confusing while you're experiencing it, but it's actually a good thing!  It's an important safety mechanism; you're being alerted that things aren't quite lining up the way they need to.  The next step?  Taking a closer look to determine why things aren't lining up.
 
There are an infinite number of reasons why you may be encountering resistance; here are three of the most common ones.

How many times have you committed to a new goal (or recommitted to an old one) with a fresh burst of energy and enthusiasm, only to find yourself getting derailed somewhere along the way?  You encounter an obstacle that throws you off course, and your efforts come to a halt.

All that confidence and enthusiasm you started off with fades away, replaced with frustration and discouragement.  As those feelings intensify and gain a deeper foothold, many people wind up abandoning their goals entirely.  How do you avoid this scenario?

You drag your feet.  You procrastinate.  Perhaps you have a big job to complete and you feel overwhelmed, unsure of how to get started.  Perhaps you have an unpleasant task before you and you would simply rather not deal with it. 

Then there are those times when the task you're facing is neither all that big, nor particularly difficult or unpleasant.  Nevertheless, you still find yourself putting it off day after day.