Decisions

I was chatting to a friend in the telecommunications industry, he was talking about his work.
 “It’s made more difficult because my bosses won’t sign off jobs. They can’t make a decision, they won’t take responsibility just in case they’re wrong.”
“Damage control?” I asked.
“It’s risk assessment that I do, I research, do the legal work and I lay it out for them. I put the complex risks and benefits into charts and diagrams, positive and negative.”
“So no matter what they decide, there is always a risk they could get it wrong?”
“Yep, that’s the problem.”
“So it’s only possible to make a good informed decision not a perfect one?”
“That about sums it up.” He said.

Change, any change, is usually less than easy. Any change for good or bad starts with a decision to go in one direction as opposed to another.  There are many reasons that prevent change:

• You may not realise you can change, that you have choices.
• You may be so deeply embedded in your habits that change eludes you. For example cigarettes, relationships, personal grooming etc.
• It might be unsafe to change even if the change is in a healthy direction. Medication, abusive situations.
• You may not really want to change even though you know you ‘should.’ Alcohol, food habits, addictions.
• You may not have any idea how to start to change.
• The very idea of change is overwhelming, even though you’d like a different life it seems impossible.
  

The first step has to be a little one, then the next is equally little.  You can make small changes unrelated to your ‘issues’.  Just doing something different can help propel you into a proactive mindset.  The executives my friend works for are prevaricating just in case they make the wrong decision but in the end they risk losing valuable time and maybe even their salaried positions.  Decisions are inevitable, even the daily decision to drink a little more water, eat a little less pastry or more as the case may be are there for the making and not making a decision is a decision.

Bill was a fat accountant, a beer barrel of a man.  I hadn’t seen him for months.  He was a lovely, generous man but obese. One afternoon I saw him at the local coffee shop. He looked hot.  He was still a big man but he looked buff, fit and healthy, he had lost a lot of weight, mostly fat.  Gone was the jowly face, the 9 month pregnant paunch and the roly-poly walk.  I went up to Bill, exclaiming, ” It’s been ages Bill, you look great.” He told me he’d started to say no. No to the second beer, no to the second helping.  He’d been aided by a health scare and now he was the picture of health. Bill decided to say NO, simple as that, and he changed.

There are many negative circumstances that force change upon you:

• Financial crisis
• Emotional upheaval
• Health emergency
  

And equally as many possible positive change vectors:

• Travel
• Change in relationship status
• Moving
  

So no matter if you have change thrust upon you or make a choice to change the key is adaptation.  The degree of health you experience is directly related to the degree of adaptability you have in your body, mind and spirit. The expression roll with the punches,  means to to adjust to or adapt to difficult events as they happen.

So how do you do that?

• When confronted with difficulties don’t lose your good health habits, still exercise and eat well. Drink lots of water to maintain your blood alkalinity. In other words keep your chemistry balanced it’ll help your thought processes.
• When you can’t think clearly ask for help, a trusted family member or even better a trained councillor, financial advisor or health practitioner.
• Take your time to ferret out what will work for you and your circumstances. Don’t make purely emotional decisions.
• Make little changes every day.
• When your life is going well, take the time to strengthen your self and your future. Look at income protection insurance, seek a counsellor, do core strength work.
• Face your fears with meditation and take action.
• Take time to strengthen your friendships, they are your best insurance against sadness.
• Be honest with yourself
• Be loyal to your own best interests
  

Real life change is rare and yet when it comes, a really deep change of heart, no matter how it happens it will leave you with joyful tranquillity and sureness of your self, eventually.