Week 27
July 8, 2011
You and me, we look for signals to tell us what to do. We were taught that growing up. From crossing guards and then traffic lights telling us to go or stop, to toasters and coffee makers signaling our pop tarts and wake-up juice are ready, we have all kinds of systems in place to tell us what decision to make and when. We look for these in the larger context of living our life as well, and although there may be no blinking notification or alarm that it is ok or not ok to take that new job, continue in that challenging relationship, or make some other life-impacting decision, we nonetheless use and want a signal to make it "ok".
So what happens when we get mixed signals? What if the indications say go AND stop? well, I suppose in this case we use common sense. If you ran across the situation above at a stoplight, you would stop, use caution, and if clear, then go. Simple, right? Well, I think we have to do the same in bigger decisions. When we are getting mixed signals, we can't be afraid of what might happen. We can only make the best decision with the information we have, and trust in that decision. Anxiety doesn't help, and we can't know what we don't know. If we go through life stalling because we don't want to make a decision until we are sure about the results, we miss out on a lot of living.
Consequences? Sure. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. But repercussions will be what they are, not because you didn't try to make the best decision with what you were given, but because despite our best efforts, we're just not in control. :).
Image above taken with Canon 5DMII, 24-70 2.8L lens, 6 sec. @f11, ISO 100
You and me, we look for signals to tell us what to do. We were taught that growing up. From crossing guards and then traffic lights telling us to go or stop, to toasters and coffee makers signaling our pop tarts and wake-up juice are ready, we have all kinds of systems in place to tell us what decision to make and when. We look for these in the larger context of living our life as well, and although there may be no blinking notification or alarm that it is ok or not ok to take that new job, continue in that challenging relationship, or make some other life-impacting decision, we nonetheless use and want a signal to make it "ok".
So what happens when we get mixed signals? What if the indications say go AND stop? well, I suppose in this case we use common sense. If you ran across the situation above at a stoplight, you would stop, use caution, and if clear, then go. Simple, right? Well, I think we have to do the same in bigger decisions. When we are getting mixed signals, we can't be afraid of what might happen. We can only make the best decision with the information we have, and trust in that decision. Anxiety doesn't help, and we can't know what we don't know. If we go through life stalling because we don't want to make a decision until we are sure about the results, we miss out on a lot of living.
Consequences? Sure. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. But repercussions will be what they are, not because you didn't try to make the best decision with what you were given, but because despite our best efforts, we're just not in control. :).
Image above taken with Canon 5DMII, 24-70 2.8L lens, 6 sec. @f11, ISO 100
