Options are okay... they’re certainly not there to stress us out; but often we let them, because we don’t want to let go of parts of more than one option—we want to hedge our bets. We want a bit of everything that’s on offer. We even speed up our lives in order to not miss out. The irony is in seeking to gain we lose.
Options, converse to how we see them, are actually a means to freedom-of-choice.
Why then do we enslave ourselves to choosing both or more options when we have only one sane choice?
A Reminder Not To Covet Things
Options remind us of the need to hold the things of our world lightly.
Where we have options there’s not too much importance in choosing either way; it’s up to us. But we do need to make the choice—and it’s blessed to be as decisive as possible, not thinking too many thoughts for potential loss.
We place so much internal pressure on ourselves; the inner conflict, together with our environment and circumstances, provides a state of anxious chaos to the extent, only, that we let it—for being undisciplined. Principled behaviour is no good at all if it’s not directed at a level where it will help—at the level of us as individuals; within our control of discipline.
What a waste of time and effort to go swimming in external pools ignorantly, without having first enjoyed the full experience and clarity of our own waters. The point is, when our thoughts are scattered we’re too interested in externals—splitting our finite attentions to far, usually into affairs that don’t uniquely involve us. Even though we can see them, we cannot have them—so why look?
Reclaiming Control Over Our Lives
Let the world have its trifling load of anxious concern; a more direct path we take. We select one option and fully divest ourselves in exploring it. With such a directed line of focused enquiry, our mind is free of ambivalent external concern that ransoms our thought on a whim, removing our local control.
Options, it can be seen, are both a blessing and a curse.
It depends on how we use them; whether they liberate us or make us captive to madness. Both of these situations are states that emanate from our minds.
Regarding options, our minds are our most powerful weapon for peace. Options can only be a blessing if we’re disciplined and decisive. Choose one; don’t deliberate over more than any one person can manage.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
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