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Why Bother Noticing Our Choices?

Why Bother Noticing Our Choices?

We make a lot of choices in one day. For example, because today was Saturday, I chose to sleep in, getting out of bed only after I smelled the coffee that my husband brewed. With coffee in hand, I then followed my usual routine of reading something inspirational, practicing meditation followed by yoga. But instead of drinking my second cup of coffee in front of the computer while checking my email, I chose to drink it while sitting on the couch beside my husband. That simple choice, not checking my email and instead, sitting down beside my husband, led me to my favorite kind of conversation, a rather lengthy and in depth one, with my spouse. 

    When Choices Count

One expert gauges that we make around 30,000 decisions in one day. But I don’t believe that all decisions are created equal. Some selections we make are more benign than others. For instance, whether I make the resolution to go a garage-sale to look for a larger planter needed for a houseplant or commit to staying home on the couch reading the novel that captivates my attention, is not a life changer. Yet, there are those life changing choices we make that give definition to our lives. 

How did I happen to become a wife?  I accepted the marriage proposal my husband made to me.  How did I become a teacher? Only by returning to school and working hard to earn a certification am I able to be the classroom teacher that I am. These two choices, accepting a marriage proposal and returning to school, had much bigger and more profound consequences in my life than the garage sale or reading my novel scenario. 

The complex choices we make not only give definition to our lives, but they also show others who we are and what is important to us. My friends know my character because they know the moral compass by which I live. They know the moral compass I live by because they  see the decisions I’ve made and where those decisions have taken me. Even those in my community who do not know me very well know me by the sheer fact that our reputations usually precede us. 

The places where we presently find ourselves are not by happenstance. Instead, the places we find ourselves are because of the 30,000 daily choices we make in a twenty-four hour period of time. 

Why bother to notice our choices? Our choices are worth noticing since they can either keep us in one place doing the same thing over and over again, or they can take us to a place where we might find a fine and pleasant change to our circumstances. The choice is ours to make. 

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  1. Deb Dawson on August 18, 2021 at 3:18 pm

    Good to take a moment to think about the choices we make. Sometimes we can look back and gain some understanding of why we made those choices and recognize the consequences of those choices. The decisions we make are predictions of future consequences. When we recognize that we can make better choices.

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