Food for Thought_Choices

Often we talk about having two choices in life; this or that, staying or leaving, making a career or raising a family, accepting a job offer or remaining in the one we have, changing our lives or letting things slide as they are and while making these choices, we naturally weigh the pros and cons, as we have been so well taught. We have a tendency to weigh options coming from a scale of opposites. This forms part of our childhood schooling and we learn to use opposing adjectives to classify things.

Over and Under.

Tall and Short.

Stop and Proceed.

We forget the in-between, which is neither of the extremes, but a little of both. I have lived my life seeing this for the most part, looking at the relative relationship between things when they are not in a specifically defined state.

So strong is this childhood conditioning that concretises as we move into adulthood, that we sometimes, or rather often, forget that when faced with two options, more than a choice it tends to become a heavy-weight dilemma leading to endless brooding, frustration, and the very uncomfortable feeling of being stuck.

This or That.

This or That.

This or That

Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock. Just the sound can get us short on breath, with a feeling of time slipping by and no movement or progress. It can be stifling unless it is exciting!

Here, let us remember, that to actually have the power of choice, we must be able to consider a multitude of options, and it could be a minimum of 3 or better a few more, moving on into limitless permutations and combinations in varying degrees of even the first two, perhaps.

Oftentimes, it helps to get more perspectives than our own and be open to others’ points of view because they will always see things from angles completely different than our own. We are, however, not obliged to follow every piece of advice or suggestion given. That openness simply helps us expand the gamut of choices available to us and keeps us from getting stuck and tied down into tight, rigid, boxed-in dilemmas.

Once we have been able to look at a multitude of options, it is time to make some definite moves and we can go back to reviewing the original two perhaps, if required, only this time with a more flexible, enriched and expanded mindset which will help us make a more informed, conscious choice which is in keeping with what we want than a forced acceptance of one or the other.

So, on your life’s journey, when you come to a major fork in the road, instead of remaining immobile in the fear of indecision, opt for some action and momentum. Review and consider options and by all means, take your pick if you need to, and move.

Act.

Remember that even if seemingly there is no going back, you can always create your own tiny trails to take you where you want to go, instead of blindly following the paved road in front of you. At times, you can also re-track for a while and take a detour to explore something more before continuing. Nothing is ever permanent or set in stone.

Exploring is Fun.

Permanent is an Illusion.

Fixed is a falsity based on recreating the same thing over and over again.

How does that sound to you?

-Right now, in what areas of your life are you looking to make different choices, new choices, fresh inputs in your decision making process?

-What choices and options are you currently reviewing in your own life?