India, Sept. 12 -- When you face a difficult choice, your first reaction may be to think your way through it. You make a list, replay the situation and try to predict what could happen next.

But spiritual teacher Tara Brach suggests another way to pause.

In a recent Instagram post, Brach asks you to consider whether a thought, choice or response is serving "awakening and freedom" or reinforcing what she describes as a "fearful, separate self." Her question is simple: Does the experience feel spacious and alive, or contracted and defended?

It is not presented as a medical test or a way to solve every difficult situation. Instead, Brach offers it as a form of honest spiritual noticing.

You may recognize the feeling without having a name...