Watts’s insight also applies to decision-making. When options feel tangled, the temptation is to force a conclusion immediately, as if uncertainty were a flaw to eliminate. Yet hasty choices can be a form of stirring: they may satisfy the craving for certainty while muddying the consequences.
By contrast, giving a problem room can restore proportion. As attention relaxes, details separate from one another, priorities become clearer, and what seemed equally urgent begins to sort itself. The quiet interval doesn’t solve the problem by magic; it reduces interference so the mind can see what was already there. [...]
