Another mea culpa from me: I have engaged in impetuous behavoir. I've made major life decisions based on very little information, driven by my emotions, and with little regard for the future, outside of "knowing" that it would be OK. And, with a lot of luck, I have never found myself in a dangerous situation, or have sufferend dire consequences of those decisions.
Some of this comes from an incredibly strong sense of intuition, ability to read people accurately, and be flexible enough to modify my expectations as things change. But I have to admit that most of it has been luck and more than a little heart ache...
So, when you know someone who is acting impetuously, or about to.... do you stop them? Do you try to "show" them that they are about to make a mistake? Do you nag on them until they listen? Or do you need to back away so they can make that choice?
I ask only becasue everytime I made those types of deicisions, I knew I was doing it, and chose to proceed. I don't believe there was any type of information that anyone could have given to me that would have changed my mind. And for some of the people that dissaproved of my decision, any push back caused me to be more resolute. So - again, are impetuous choices actually preventable?
Girl Scout Cookies
2 years ago
I would say that the only thing that one can do is try to get the person about to act impetously to momentarily stop, and have them think about what they are going to do, the possible alternative solutions, the possible outcomes and their probability and then let them know that in the end it is their decision but also let them knnow what you would do.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, sometimes the person is goinng to go forward regardless but getting them to critically think about everything one more time, it may help. Easier said than done of course.
Yes, it's the ciritcal thinking part that seems to take a back seat when the heart is involved... talk about a fatal flaw for humans..
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