Tag: choices

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Tools of Choice

How do you choose

Contrary to popular belief, a choice is not a thing, it’s not a noun. A choice is an action you take, a verb. Options are things. And while we can’t always choose all our options, we are the only one that can choose which option to take.

In our society it seems that more means better. Work more hours, volunteer more, make more, see more, do more, always more. The problem is, often the more we do, the less we do. What I mean here is, you can do anything you want, but you can’t do everything. The more you push yourself in one hundred directions, the less you end up doing. You can only give so much of yourself to any one given project. If you’re working on 100 things then you’re only going to be giving 10 percent of yourself to each of those things.

So what tools do we have to help us with the plethora of options we’re given each day? How do we know we are making the right choices? (taking the right actions.) Here’s a 3 tools I have learned that help me with making life choices:

*Be Present (mindful)

When you are living in the present moment and are presented with an option you are more aware of what choice needs to be made. You aren’t concerned with how something turned out in the past, or worried about what this option may or may not turn out to be in the future. You are only aware of what choice you should make for the moment you’re in. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think ahead, it means you’re primary focus is on what action you need to take right now, your secondary focus is how will this action affect something in the future.

*Practice Discernment

The problem is we are presented with so many things each day. Some that are easy to discern, we can plainly see they aren’t worth our time. However, what about when we’re presented with several good or great options? We need some real discernment to know when to say no to a good opportunity. What are some questions you can think of to practice discernment? For me, I try to ask myself, “Would this option be vital to my business or my way of life.” Even if it’s a great option, it may not be a vital option.

*Give & Take

Try to remember there is a give & take for every option. If you are unaware of this you’re going to find yourself in some trouble by way of stress. You’ll be over worked, agitated, and most likely you’ll find you’re not doing a very good job. The key is to ask yourself this questions, “If I take on this project/option what will I need to give up to make it work?” Because the thing is, you can do anything you want to, but you cannot do it everything. So when we take on something new, we need to realize something else has got to go or be put on hold for awhile.

If you’d like a great book to read on this subject, “Essentialism” by Greg McKeown is amazing!!

Cause we’re not there yet….but perhaps, Soon Enuff.

Live Present,

Amy Lopez

I have a live 60-90 minute workshop coming on January 25th! Would love to have you join me. For $40 I’ll be giving you invaluable tools to “Multiply Healthy Habits with Intention.“

You may register here :

https://calendly.com/grounded-inthe-present/multiply-healthy-habits-with-intention

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When you can do nothing…what can you do

You’ve heard the saying, “Acceptance is a small quiet room…” I often wondered the meaning, and I’m sure many people interpret it differently, but for me it means this: Sometimes you put up a good fight, you do your best, and all of your efforts, just won’t matter.  Sometimes there is nothing more you can do, but accept that this particular person, or situation, or group, etc. is just going to let you down.  And when you finally realize that, and you finally accept it, it feels like you’re standing in a small room that’s quiet and for the moment, you’re all alone.

My poem this morning:  I’ve been through a lot of changes but the one thing that’s remained constant:  People will let you down.  You learn to accept it, and I can laugh when I say it, but the truth is so sad, that even my laugh has a frown….-Amy-

So what can you do?  Honestly, when you can do nothing, you can only do what you can.  You move on, you go about your way.  You try to forgive the person, situation, group, whatever it may be.  Not for them, but for yourself.  Because holding onto resentment, anger, hatred, it only ends up hurting you.  Truth be told, whatever it was that you let you down, probably isn’t even remotely worried about it, hell, they may not even know or care.  So for your own sake, you forgive.  All we can do is the best we can. I’m not saying you won’t be sad or that you won’t carry a little of the pain in your soul forever, because I’m sure you will, I know I have.  But it gets better over time.

You learn to smile, even if your smile wears a slight frown, you still smile.  Life’s about doing the best we can for ourselves and by doing that, we are doing what’s ultimately best for everyone else.  It’s about making choices, it’s about having to make a few sacrifices along the way, give and take, take and give.  But life is good, and the sooner we can accept that we can’t control every situation, we can’t make everyone do the right thing, the more peace you’ll have in your life, I truly believe that.

Love & Peace

Cause I’m not there, but perhaps, Soon Enuff….