Decision Frenzy

Ideals are like stars: you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the ocean desert of water, you choose them as your guides, and following them, you reach your destiny.   Carl Schurz 

Small Boat Ready to Dock at Besiktas

There are no mistakes.  There are choices.  

Sometimes, I'm careful about making choices.  I still try to squint my eyes and strain my shoulders toward my ears, hoping to see through the swirling crystal ball.  Hoping, I will see consequences I may have not thought through.  Stumbling blocks I could have avoided, by seeing the future.  

Goose Footprints, Frozen in the Snow

I can tell you it's impossible.  I know from experience.  Plotting and calculating is more a waste of time, than a guarantee.  Still, I find myself caught up in the frenzy of old habits.  I should have realized years ago, when I had to drop out of a "Logic" math course at Michigan State, I wasn't cut out for understanding what is or is not logical.  My math professor didn't give me any bonus points for using my intuition. 

Check your ego at the door and check your gut instead.  Every right decision I have ever made has come from my gut.  Every wrong decision I've made was the result of me not listening to the greater voice of myself.  Oprah Winfrey (Stanford Commencement Address, 2008)

Ice Covers a Rock Who Will Not Move (my own quote)

I'm not talking about what color rug to put in my new living room.  When to go to the laundry mat or whether to eat popcorn for dinner versus a balanced meal.  I'm talking about choosing where I'll volunteer.  Where I'll worship.  Which music group I'll work with.  How I'll choose a doctor or dentist.  How I'll balance solitude with social-tude. 

Benches in Moda, Turkey

Open-ended choices make me apprehensive.  But, if there are no mistakes, why do I keep getting on the bike with the flat tire?  Why am I trying to get on a bike in the first place?  I can take my time, walk through these life-choices with my shoulders relaxed, eyes open and allow my intuition to be my antennae.  

It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.  J.K. Rowling

I don't have a job.  I don't have a spouse.  I don't have dependent children or grandchildren.  I don't have a mortgage.  My old habits became ingrained with all those factors to consider before making a decision about anything.  I laugh when I think of the reaction I would have received, if I had said ten years ago, "I think we'll have popcorn for supper."  

Choices at Market in Moda