Choices

Choice is the act of selecting; it is an option, alternative or preference.

The 3 C’s of Life: Choices, Chances, Changes. You must make a choice to take a chance or your life will never change. ~ Unknown

Every- day we are faced with choices, some small and basic others large and life changing. The basic choices may not require a lot of thought as we ponder what next to eat or what clothes to put on today. The larger, life changing choices tend to require a lot more thought and perhaps also listening to our intuition. At times we may feel lost not knowing if to listen to the mind or the heart and which one is which anyway.

Making life changing decisions can be daunting because not many of us like to step outside of our comfort zone. We can also be worried whether our choice will be good or bad, help or harm, save or end, empower or belittle!

In class we have choices: where will I put my mat today? Will I take the modified pose today that my body is screaming for, I will ego and competition be my choice today? Will I practice to the best of my ability to find optimum growth or will I instead opt to take it easy again and play small? Will I practice the sequence the teacher is delivering today or do I know what my body needs and will choose my own sequence or pose?

General questions to ask yourself:

• Am I settling somewhere in my life, (job, relationships) rather than making changes to have the life I really want?
   
• Am I feeling  bored, unhappy, unproductive or non-creative?
   
• Am scared to make some choices in life and so I don’t, I just wait to see what happens  even though I feel unfulfilled?
   
• Do you sometimes feel confused if the voice guiding your decisions is coming from your mind or your heart?
   
• If money, fear or pride weren’t an issue what would I really be choosing for my life?

Here are a few tips to help decision making a little easier.

• Take a few deep breaths to help you remain calm, this will help feed oxygen to your body and brain aiding in making wiser decisions. Pranayama (breath control)  also eases stress and anxiety which are unfortunately normally present at a cross-road in life.
   
•  Take time to look inwards and identify  your core values, what is really important to you. What would you really miss if it were no longer in your life? What are you passionate about, what gets you out of bed in the morning? Sure, you can listen to advice from others but at the end of the day they may be inadvertently steering you towards their values not yours!
   
• Do some research to educate your-self about the choices that lay ahead. If you are thinking of moving to another town, find out all you can about the place so you have an idea of what you may be getting yourself into. If you are thinking of a new career, ask people already in that field what day-to-day life is really like. Once you have gathered real information from reliable sources you can then ask yourself appropriate questions to guide your choice.
   
• If you feel terribly confused and have a little time to make your decision, then take a break from it. Go for a walk out in nature or near moving water like a waterfall or the ocean (these have positive ions to help you feel calm). Sometimes when we leave it for a while the best solution pops forward with ease.
   
• Practice acceptance. Once you have come to a decision try to truly accept your choice, remember that sometimes the wrong choices bring us to the right places. Although it may seem as though you didn’t choose well initially you may be able to  choose again, and if you can’t choose again accept that you are here for the moment and choose to see what you may learn from this situation.

Quotes:

• "The 3 C’s of life: choices, chances, changes. You must make a Choice, to take a Chance or your life will never Change.”  Unknown.
   
• “The choices you make in your life will make your life. Choose wisely.” ~ Michael Josephson.
   
• “You are free to make any choice you want but you are not free of the consequence of the choice.” ~ Unknown.
   
• “Sometimes the wrong choices bring us to the right places.” ~Unknown.
   
• “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” ~ Nelson Mandela.
   
• “ I choose to live by choice not by chance, to be motivated not manipulated, to be useful not used, to make change not excuses, to excel not compete. I choose self -esteem, not self-pity. I choose to listen to my inner voice, not to listen to the random opinions of others…” ~ Unknown.
   
•  "When you are BE-ing the kind of person that is most desirable for you to BE, then you will automatically DO the best you can DO—then you will HAVE the peace and whatever else that is most desirable in life for you to HAVE.” ~ Karol Truman’s book Feelings Buried Alive Never Die.
   
• “…being true to yourself means looking within to discover what you know in your heart to be right and then acting on it…It means being true to your values and morals. It means being honest in all things: knowing the truth, walking by the truth, and living by that truth.” ~ Baron Baptiste / 40 Days to a Personal Revolution