Making Choice Choices

I love the way in Aussie slang that if you do something smart or nice, someone might say “That’s choice”. This blog is about why we need to make ‘choice’ choices.

Helen Keller was an inspiration to me when I was at primary school. She was an author, political activist and lecturer, all amazing achievements in themselves. Keller was also deaf and blind from the age of 19 months after an illness and wanted to learn how to communicate despite these disabilities.

She learned to speak, she read people’s lips with her hands, used Braille and read sign language with her hands. She stated: “I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”

It seems to me that all the small tasks and all the small choices we make each day reflect  what our life will look like this minute, today, tomorrow and next year.

What if we decide to make our lives a bit better by making the best choices we can each day? They don’t have to be big.

Ask yourself: “What is the smallest possible step that I can take today which will lead towards my goal?”

Making choice choices can work on so many levels.

Align with your values: If you follow the life compass of living by your values, you need to ask each day: “Is this choice in keeping with my values?”

New habits: I don’t know about you but I sometimes find it difficult to develop new habits to the point that they become ingrained in my life. Quite often I want to choose negative actions that give me short term relief like cancelling running, eating that extra piece of bacon or putting off that ‘hard’ task for example, rather than those that are positive and life enriching.

Cause and effect: I was reminded recently of Sir Isaac Newton’s law which stated: “For every action force there is a corresponding reaction force which is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.” This applies to science but also to our behaviours and choices. As Melody Beattie said in her book “Choices”: “We don’t just get our choice; we get the consequences that choice creates.”

The butterfly effect: The butterfly effect theory states that if enough butterflies in China flap their wings, this could eventually make enough turbulence to cause a storm in another country. Small decisions and choices we make each day, even those that seem inconsequential can alter our destiny.

Remember that building your dream life is about the choices you make about your values, goals and habits. Start with recognising the small decisions you are making. Sometimes it is also the little choices you make each day that might give you the best feelings of the day. It could be little things from the heart like sending a thank you note or ringing a sick friend.

Choices are cause and effect. Make ‘choice’ choices which honour you. Dream, Dare & Do!

Visit the online gallery for more inspiration or download the free Art of Being screensaver of 69 inspirational images about being which may help keep you on track for the doing and the having.

Be the best version of yourself!