Tag Archives: choices

Tsunami Evacuation Route

July 19, 2015 cinser Leave a comment

Photo taken in Alaska by Tawnya McDonald

We often wonder how people live peacefully in an area with a high likelihood of natural disasters. Yet we all face the possibility of disasters every day. Some of us admit the potential of catastrophic life occurrences, some ignore them, and others fixate on them. We may choose to live in what we believe is a safe environment, one usually devoid of floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, or hurricanes, but the potential always exists for something to go wrong, for things to not be the way we wish they were. We are not in charge of the elements of our lives be they geological or personal. What we can choose is how we live each moment until things explode, implode, or not. Will we hunker in anticipatory fright? Will we stockpile self-selected or fanatically-recommended provisions? Rail against the unfairness of life? Fear what has not yet transpired? Mourn what we still possess? Or, will we choose to savor and celebrate our current steps in the dance of life?

Border Crossing

January 26, 2015 cinser Leave a comment

Many of us are skilled at drawing borders to keep others in line. We warn them not to cross into forbidden territory. We convince ourselves that those who don’t respect our boundaries, don’t respect us either. We become nervous when they begin to approach our carefully drawn borders. We become enraged when they dare to cross them. Our borders are constructed of don’ts. Don’t ignore me. Don’t make fun of what I think. Don’t treat me as less important than you. Don’t look at me with that judgmental glint in your eye. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t.

Perhaps we should stop drawing lines we fear others might cross and instead determine boundaries to keep ourselves out of the territories we’d rather not inhabit. See this border I’ve drawn for myself? It goes everywhere with me. Inside my border is truth and authenticity. Inside is the choice to acknowledge fear and the refusal to let it rule my world. You can come and visit me anytime. I won’t fight to keep you out. I won’t argue about where you should be. I’ll simply continue to live and examine my life, and perfect the shape of my world as my inner sight improves.

Exit

November 25, 2014 cinser Leave a comment

Exit signs are suggestions, not commands. You get to choose whether or not you want to exit here and now, or later, somewhere else. We don’t notice the exit signs in buildings if we already know how to get out, if we’ve already decided when we want to leave. But on the highway, we might struggle to find a particular exit, the one we believe will take us where we want to go. We get tense. We stress out. We worry we’ll miss it. We act as if we only get one chance to find and take our desired exit. My dad used to tell me to relax. To remember that if I make a wrong turn, that most of the time I can make two lefts and get right back to where I started. Sometimes this is true. Other times life throws a cloverleaf-like confusion in my path and it isn’t. But I always make discoveries when I end up taking a different path than I intended. It really is about the journey. Sure, I want to get to where I’m going, but sometimes, I want to change my mind about where I want to end up. Sometimes, the journey helps me choose my destination instead of the other way around.

Yellow Light/Caution Sign

September 1, 2014 cinser Leave a comment

Driver’s manuals tell us to stop at a yellow light unless we don’t have enough time to stop safely. Then and only then are we supposed to risk driving through. Most of us act more like the title character of the movie ‘Starman’ when we come to a yellow light. Starman, an alien, speeds through an intersection when the traffic light is yellow; the human in the car accuses him of not knowing how to drive. Starman say “I watched you very carefully. Red light stop, green light go, yellow light go very fast.” So, even though we are supposed to stop, many of us speed through instead.

How we respond to a sign or to another human telling us to be cautious, largely depends on our personality. Those with a tendency to be timid or overly cautious might slow down our forward motion or become frozen with fear when cautioned against a particular course of action. Others, wired to be daredevils or who adore tempting fate, might rush in hoping for a challenge.

Many different types of yellow lights or cautions are thrown at us in life. People frequently advise us to be careful. Sometimes their micro-expressions convey a judgment of our intended actions as foolhardy or dangerous. This might cause us to rethink our plans, but it could just as easily cause us to forge forward to prove them wrong or to spite them.

But why do people caution us in the first place? Sometimes they sincerely care about us and worry about our safety. But sometimes they are invested in our failure. Maybe they don’t want us to try so that there will be no hope of us succeeding. Maybe they’re not brave enough or don’t feel capable enough to try what we are planning to do. And, if they feel smarter or more accomplished than us, they might realize that their egos would have a difficult time accepting our success. Better to forestall the possibility of success with a well-placed word or two of caution.

Don’t be an idiot; listen to caution when’s it’s warranted. But don’t let others cause you to falter when you know you’re on the right path or are willing to find out if you are. That would be even more idiotic.

Starman quote: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088172/quotes