Making Decisions: Avoiding the Disappointment of Neglecting Your Desires

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When you are faced with making choices, are your choices your own? Are you able to decide what you want for yourself? Do you base your decisions on what others want for you instead of what you want for yourself? 

It is key to allow yourself room to make sound decisions.  You must rely on your own deductions and decisions. At some point, no one else will be able to decide for you. 

The way to make better decisions is by, first, deciding what you like and what you do not like. This may seem silly or obvious but your thoughts and decisions come down to what you like, want, and prefer. This is all about you. Keep in mind that every now and then, it is important to reassess yourself. Our likes, dislikes, and preferences tend to change. 

Next, determine whether or not you are able to choose one thing over another. Personally, this is where I run into trouble. If the options are similar and I do not immediately find reason to like one thing instead of another, it takes more time for me to select one choice. I have had to overcome this by forcing myself to select one. On a case by case basis, if you are able to determine what your preferences are, doing so can help to improve your ability to finalize your choices. 

Most of all, it always helps to be realistic about the potential consequences of your choices. When I wonder whether or not I will be disappointed if I walk away, leaving an item behind or missing an opportunity, I have to honestly assess that potential occurrence or it could end in disappointment. Try this the next time you feel stuck in making a decision. 

Assess yourself to determine what you do and do not like and determine what your preferences are. Practice determining whether you have set preferences by acting out real situations. This could involve things like selecting a book to read at your leisure or finding a new podcast to listen to weekly. Finally, be realistic about what will happen if you miss an opportunity. Some moments are fairly insignificant, like choosing peppermint gum or spearmint gum. Others have more weight and significance, like deciding whether to take the creative writing track or the technical writing track of English. At times, some concerns affect us more than we realize and we are not aware of this until it is too late, or very troublesome, to fix them. For example, if you elected to explore your options instead of continuing in journalism after high school but now you are questioning or deeply regretting your choice, that takes a lot more to fix than having chosen the wrong flavor of gum. To avoid neglecting your innermost desires in any situation, give yourself permission to carefully decide and choose what is best for you. 

*image: courtesy of pixabay

Which Way: Finding the Road to Recovery

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Life can be filled with good times, great food, exhilarating adventures, and compassionate people. Yet, it may sometimes feel like something is awry. This may be an indication that something is lacking or some area of your life requires your attention. 

During our existence, we each have something that we must overcome. No matter what brings you down, find ways to make a positive adjustment. If you find yourself focusing on former disappointments, remember to let them go. Perhaps you suffer from anxiety or have unhealthy thoughts. Replace the negative, unhealthy thoughts with positive thoughts. It is best to seek the professional help of a therapist or counselor if this issue seems to be ongoing. If you question your self-worth or doubt your capabilities, consider taking some classes, developing a new skill, or even becoming certified in something you have already mastered through life or work experience. This will allow you to see yourself in a new light: capable, accomplished, ready for the next level of your success. It may even be helpful to try different activities. Consider hobbies that you formerly had or brainstorm about new ones. Alternatively, you could find an activity partner to explore things to do in your area to occupy your free time on days of shared availability. 

There are many ways to prove to yourself that you are capable of achievement. A change of pace, willingness to recover from those negative thoughts, and daily insistence on overcoming what is ailing you can steer you clear of spirit-dampening doldrums. Be honest with yourself about what is at the root of anything troubling you. Determine steps to take to move forward. Remain positive by doing what helps you feel good about yourself. Include people in your life who see the great things about you, can speak objectively when you need to discuss things, and are willing to help you reach your goals when they can assist you. If you have exhausted your ideas or require insight, find a positive-minded, mature mentor you can trust and with whom you are comfortable. Be encouraged!

*Photo accessed on https://pixabay.com/images/search/directional%20signs/

Reinventing You: Release

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What defines you? Are your answers in reference to material things or in consideration of descriptors that are inherent to your life and the nature of your being? Consider this: If someone else truthfully answered that question on your behalf, upon hearing the response, what do you expect the relayed perception of you to be? 

You may have heard the Scottish song "Auld Lang Syne" when bringing in the new year. Yet, in translation, the song makes no reference to that occasion. Rather, the song reminds us of its translation to English, which is Old Long Since. In other words, times gone by or "for old times' sake" as Brittanica explains.

It is necessary to regularly take a long, honest look at who you are. This is not an assessment intended to cause your destruction. It is intended to guide you in the fulfillment of your purpose and reconstruction of self.

So, why not let go of the things of old? Release them. Allow the past to consume them. Be a new being who is able to move forward successfully. Accept your imperfections, forgive yourself for your mistakes, and create new moments. 

 

To satisfy your curiosity, I have included the following links:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Auld-Lang-Syne

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acxnmaVTlZA 

 

*The images were retrieved from:

 https://pixabay.com/images/search/who%20am%20i/?manual_search=1&order=ec

Enduring Life's Seasons: Growing and Becoming

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Have you ever seen a caterpillar? Did you consider its process? Did you realize what it must endure to become? Did you think that it should hurry up and become a butterfly? The process that a caterpillar endures - - from being a caterpillar that crawls, to being encapsulated in a cocoon, to becoming a butterfly - - takes time. In that same way, we each require time to grow and learn.

There are seasons in life. There is an appointed time for things to take place. In no way are we to hurry through life, denying ourselves an opportunity for growth and learning. Both take time. This is why there are seasons. Just as there are cycles and appointed times for growth in nature, there are also cycles and appointed times for growth in life.

Growth for us can be physical, emotional, and spiritual. It is best to grow in all areas. Physical growth comes from within. Emotional health is often dependent upon to what we are exposed. Be careful where you find yourself and around whom you find yourself. Our minds and emotions are quite delicate. Spiritual growth often takes more fine tuning. Allow yourself to be in peace as often as possible. Control what happens in your headspace.

In all that you do, give yourself a fair chance to grow and become. Desired change, healthy change, does not happen overnight.

*Pictures retrieved from https://pixabay.com/images/.

Be Fruitful: Cyclical Production

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To get the most out of life, everything that you do should be fruitful. In turn, things that are fruitful are productive. The greatest personal reward after being productive is experiencing the exhilarating feeling of worth. Worthwhile actions are not only rewarding. They are also effective and beneficial. The gratification that results from accomplishing something is so good that you will want to be successful again so that you will have that same rush of excitement that you experienced after your first achievement. 

Thus, the productivity that results from planting seeds, whether physically or proverbially, is cyclical. When you aim to do that which is constructive, such actions leave seeds that further create results that can take root and produce more fruitful creations. Steve Miller and Steve McCarty wrote "Fly Like an Eagle" for the Steve Miller Band. Released on May 20, 1976, it was more than a song. It was fruitful. In later years, the song flew like an eagle into the future as it was repeatedly sampled for commercials for brands, including the USPS, in other songs, and it was redone by other performers. 

Upon reading and researching to learn about the genesis of "Fly Like an Eagle", I learned that there is far more to the song than I knew. To hear the song and read about its origins, I have inserted the link below. The second link is to a site that depicts how many times the song has been sampled and performed by other artists.

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuXwSyahgW4

https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/4964/all 

 

 *The picture was on i.ytimg.com.