Choices and Decisions

How such a small thing that we constantly do each day can affect our lives. We don’t pay attention or even notice the process when it happens. We go through our lives anticipating things to happen to us. Good, bad, happy or sad, events populate each day. Often, we characterize these events to chance occurrences. We feel lucky that it’s happening to us. Or unlucky when things don’t turn out well.

Call it chance, luck or whatever you want. Fool yourself in thinking that you don’t have any control on your lucky streak, it comes to you by chance alone. Do you think that winning the lottery is only related to chance or having lady luck on your side? Finding a $20 bill on the ground, chance? Escaping a potentially damaging or fatal fall, luck?

I had the opportunity to attend a conference this week on “Security at the Work Place”. The speaker was a person that was in a wheelchair and suffered a work-related injury that changed his life forever. He was going through his life’s habits and events that led to the accident. His mindset before the event. His tolerance for risk. Without any thought to why things were happening. All along I was hearing his story, it kept reinforcing what I often write about in my blog, everything comes down to choices and decisions. And we are all faced with these all of the time.

The choice to pop a wheely on your motorcycle. The choice to exceed speed limits by a large amount. The choice to say to yourself, nothing will happen to me, it only happens to others. The choice to say to others: “don’t worry, I’ll be ok”. His whole situation came down to the choices and decisions he had made in the past. Nothing more and nothing less. He didn’t want the outcome he got, he always said it only happens to others. The events that followed after his decisions were very unfortunate, but he now knows that it came down to a simple choice. How can something so simple have such a tremendous impact on someone’s life? How can we go through life without paying much attention to the choices we make?

That $20 on the ground, do you really think it got there but chance and you were lucky enough to pass by and see it? No, choices and decisions were made that evolved into that occurrence.

Decision #1: A person did not put away the $20 properly and it slipped out of their pocket. Even unconsciously, not paying attention to how they put the $20 away, they made the choice not to pay attention to what they were doing at the time.

Decision #2: You decided to go for a walk that day.

Decision #3: You decide to walk a path that brought you to the exact same place the other person dropped the $20 bill. You notice the money and you pick it up.

Chance or luck has nothing to do with it. Choices made by 2 peoples that don’t even know each other created this opportunity. Nothing more nothing less. The occurrence would have been so different if the money was put away safely. The second person would not have found the $20 if they wouldn’t be out for a walk. Or, choose another path = no money found.

We don’t have any control on choices or decisions that other people make. But we do have on ours. They shape everything in positive or negative ways in our lives. Then, why do we pay so little attention to them? When we start to notice, is when we start to shape the choices we make. We shape them to our advantage and towards our goals. We go from unconscious to conscious choices. From waiting for things to happen to make them happen.

Once you grow your attention to all the choices and decisions you make in your life, is when you become the conductor. You are in control and no one else. Yes, you will get thrown a curve once in a while that will push you off course, from a decision that was made by another person. Again, you will be facing a choice. Why not make that new choice consciously to move towards a desired outcome and back on course?

Here’s something I want you to try. Today, start to look for only yellow cars. You will see all the other colors but concentrate only on the color yellow. Try this and notice how there are so many yellow cars. More then you would have anticipated. There aren’t more, it’s just you have made the conscious choice to look for yellow cars and your brain has narrowed its focus on your decision, look for yellow cars.

Now just imagine if you made the decision or choice to be happy all day long. How positive and fulfilling your life would be. So, pay attention and chose the outcome you desire. Because if you don’t, someone else will make the choice for you.