Living differently, changing the way we live, involves making a decision to do things differently. The first stage is recognising the choices and decisions that we make.
The day we live today, with all of the outcomes that will come from it, is shaped around a series of decisions, yet mostly we won’t notice any of them because we tend to live by habits. Habits may once have been conscious choices but they probably aren’t anymore. Now they have become a series of automated steps in daily life. Our lives flow like water meandering down a well worn river bed. If I want something to change, to be different in the future, whatever that means to me, I have to change something now. The first stage to make that happen is to recognise that I make decisions.
We are not talking about needing to make dramatic changes. This might start by deciding not to have milk in tea. Try it. The important thing isn’t the tea, the important thing is making the decision. Choosing to make a change like that can be the beginning of breaking out of a life that has become over determined by habits.
When we give ourselves the chance to notice the decisions and choices we are making all of the time, we are doing something that may have powerful consequences. It wakes us up not just to the taste of tea but to the recognition that I have the potential to make other kinds of decisions. That is a powerful thing.
If you can find a way to engage in an ongoing basis with the choices and decisions you make, with your potential to make choices and decisions, you will start to spot opportunities to change things. As you do so, you become more adaptable and flexible, more alive. Your new life is waiting for you in your next cup of tea.
