No Plan
Wednesday, July 9, 2008 Each moment we are faced with choices. Most of these choices we do not see because we are so accustom to living on autopilot. Driving offers a prime example of this. Have you ever been driving somewhere only to arrive and have little or no memory of the drive over? Where was your mind? It was off, thinking about the upcoming meeting with that special someone, or of the fight you just had with your boss, or thinking about that vacation spot down in the Caribbean. You were on autopilot. The trip went safely, or did it? On that drive, how many traffic lights did you pass? How many other drivers did you meet or pass you? How many pedestrians were walking near the roadway? Normally, this unconscious driving occurs on our most routine drives, the ones we have done dozens of times before. At the end of the drive all we know for sure is that we arrived in one piece, or were we involved in a collision with a car that “came out of nowhere,” or did we get a ticket for running a light "we just didn’t see," or was there some far worse consequence? The danger of running on autopilot is that we are giving over the control of our life to random events that just happen along the way. Suddenly, we are faced with consequences that come as a shock because we were not prepared for them, we never saw them coming. Then we ask the inevitable ‘why me?” We were not prepared for them because we chose to allow our attention (and intention) to wander to times, things, places, people, or events, that had nothing to do with our present moment. Had we been present in that moment, we could have chosen a different course of action. Because we were not present, the course of action was chosen for us. If we arrived in one piece, be forewarned, it may not be so the next time it happens. Over time in life we feel tossed from problem to problem and unfortunate circumstance to unfortunate circumstance. We believe fate has it in for us. We look for why life is treating us so poorly and finally decide: “Life is unfair!” Overall we begin to feel miserable. The sad point of all this is we are here and now as a direct result of our previous choices. There is no one to blame for our circumstances but ourselves. We chose our course of action, even though we may not have realized we were making any choices. The beauty of life is that regaining control over our lives is possible. Life is neither fair nor unfair. Life just is. Life is what we make of it. We can consciously choose our course of action at anytime. We may have consequences to pay for previous choices, yet, this does not prevent us from making new choices starting right now. When we consciously choose our direction, we will find more of our consequences coming in the form of rewards rather than regrets. We can choose not to change, but in so doing we need to recognize that we are choosing to accept whatever comes. Pretending we have no choice or if we fail to choose does not change the fact that every choice (or lack of choice) brings consequences. Clint Perry I invite your comments and will publish them here. |