Choice

I have written about choice in the past. Choice is something that I talk about a lot. Why do I choose to talk about it and write about it so much? Because choice is the most powerful tool we have in life. We have so much education and skill in our country. What did we need to obtain these positive attributes? We needed motivation and determination. True, but we needed one thing even more. We need choice.

How do you get to school to get your education? You choose to go. How do you get your homework done so that you learn the lesson for the week? You choose to do it. How do you prepare for the exam so that you can earn your grade? You choose to study. Now, as kids, it seems that we are forced to do these things, but that is not entirely true. We were not forced to do these things, we simply were given a choice in which the alternatives were undesirable. Would you rather be grounded or finish your math homework? This question was easy for me to answer…as much as I hated math, I got through it so that I could go play outside with my friends.

When you compare homework to grounding, it seems like an easy choice. When in all reality, it you REALLY didn’t want to do your homework, you could’ve simply refused. Your choice would be grounding. The same goes for our health. We know the consequences. We know what results our choices are going to produce. So why, with all of the knowledge we have, do we continue to choose to be unhealthy? We do we make choices that we know are going to lead us to hard times?
The more I work with people making lifestyle changes, the more I find choice to be an interesting concept. It doesn’t make sense to me. But I do see the problem. The problem is that we are not making the choice consciously. We are making it without actually weighing the options. We are acting without the conscious mind even realizing what we are choosing.

For this reason, I recommend that my clients really start focusing on what they are doing. Getting a clear picture of their routine is the best way to understand what they are doing. And getting a clear picture of what they are thinking while doing this is the best way to understand why they are doing it. Most importantly, if we know what we are doing and why we are doing it, now we can not only pinpoint where the choice is being made, but we can also introduce new choices. When we have new choices, we have new options. With new options, we have a new understanding of what we really want. When we know what we want, we can pursue it. What do you want? Do you know? If so, are you choosing to pursue it?