In the second half of my life, I’m applying the lessons learned from the first half. One of which is the process of making decisions.

With experience i have realized that a choice will always be made. In simplicity it is this, we are always choosing to leave one thing/person/situation for another. Seems simple however in that decision making process we are left with evaluating which outcome is the best choice.

Like you, I’ve made some horrendous choices in life (and some amazingly breathtaking ones) In attempts to avoid one outcome i opted for another that kicked my ass along the way however had i chosen the alternative it may have taken less of a toll on my self worth. Yet still come sequenced would have emerged. Still, trudging on, looking backwards for reference only, i keep living.

I read somewhere recently a perspective that all paths chosen lead to nowhere, yet we must always choose. Toiling back and forth over details and possible outcomes, we finally choose and go forth with what unfolds. The article mentioned that the state we are in when we choose, is the key factor. Anxiety, love, desperation, fear etc were mentioned with each yielding its own experience and outcome. What is constant is the journey we endure to get to that outcome based upon the choice.

So it’s not really about where we end up. It’s what occurs to us along the way. What is our response to a lived experience? what state of mind and spirit were we in when the choice was made? The most important thing of all is answering the question: who am I now that I’ve been through this?

Breaking ourselves, allowing ourselves to surrender to intuition; creating the space to pause and be present; permitting time to identify who is making the choice and under what premise?

These are the checklist to create when choosing.

The more we learn and confidently know about our authentic selves directly impacts our choosing process. We begin to choose what matters most to who we are and not allow outside influences to choose for us.

the adage says, It’s not the destination, it’s what happened along the way that matters.