The Power of Choice

We all make myriad choices during the day, hundreds perhaps thousands depending on how decisions are measured. Each choice leads to a new outcome, a different environment, a changing dynamic.

Steve Jobs famously reduced his choices by wearing basically the same outfit day after day after day. In so doing, he avoided the minor effort of choosing some set of clothing which reflected his identity, his mood, his economic position and a myriad of small inputs, which could take him out of the flow he needed for the day’s challenging efforts. He reserved his choice-making ability for the most important work of the day and completely cancelled any need to make that particular decision.

The more choices you make, the less will power you have left to make the important calls, so willpower or the ability to choose is a limited quantity. Like a muscle it gets exhausted with over use.

Each choice has the ability to draw you further into mindful awareness or away into automatic habitual behavior. By becoming more aware of the choices we make in the moment, we can become more fully attuned to our lives and be more in the flow.

Rather than look at right or wrong, good or bad, simply be with the choice that is made and acknowledge it in the moment it is made. Be aware of what it is you are choosing to do.

It might be a simple as adding honey to your tea, or as complex as signing a contract for an expensive long-term commitment.

Without conscious attention and awareness, the moment may simply be another in a long line of actions you take while being largely in your head rather than in your awareness.

Each choice is like a split in the time line: I could go here or I could go there.

In a sense, choices are crucial junctions in our lives. By making the choice to attend to them fully, to see and fully be in the chosen path, the time between choices can also be more full and attentive.

It would be safe to say that shying away from mindful awareness of the moment is our default behavior enforced and encouraged by our cultural and technical environment.

Being mindful at the moment of a choice is the most important aspect of mindfulness. It’s at these times we are most likely to revert to habits and systems rather than attend fully to what is occurring right in front of us.

Make a choice to watch your decisions, to mark them in your mind as they occur and really be there instead of being in autopilot in your virtual world. Then when you are not choosing, you can be more present and at peace with what is happening to you in every moment.

Related posts:

A couple of weeks ago Trinity Web Media decided to start a podcast. Well, that’s not entirely true — we decided to start a podcast in August of 2017 but made it happen Q1 2018. The New Marketing Show…

It was the 3rd of March 2019. The memory of that day is so intense that it is totally unforgettable. In fact, year 2019 itself was quite taxing for my family, so was it for him too. My cancer was…