Successful Decision Making - Is Your Life a Riddle?

In the area of decision making what questions should we ask of ourselves - and what answers should we provide? Is our life a riddle and if so what can we make of it? There are a number of things that we can look at which, when looked at as a whole, can form the basis of the foundations of a way to decide our future (and aid our present). They can let us know where we stand in life, and how we feel about that.

What do we know about our life? And I mean really know? We know we pay taxes. We know we buy food. We know we earn a living. We know we normally live by day and sleep by night. We know . . so many things? But life still has questions for us, yes? Sometimes a few questions, other times many questions. What will our future bring? What do we bring to our table of life? What can we decide - what do we have power over? What questions does life have for us? What questions do we have for life?

• What is your potential? Well? Have you ever really sat down and thought about this one? Or does it frighten you - either the process or what you may come up with? But just think. All the things you have done, all the things that you have experienced and in your own way. No one else has seen life like you have. No one knows life like you do. That is just one angle. So you have a wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise. How can you use it? What can you do? What can you go for? What can you contribute - not just what can you have but what can you give? Give and you will receive - we all really know that that is one of the fundamentals of life, but do we practise it?
• What is your resolve? Do you make a commitment to things or do you flit from one thing to the next? If the latter, are you looking for the bright lights and excitement? Is that where you believe you will decide your fate and reach your potential? May be you will, may be you won't. But give life a chance and dig a bit deeper and you will find a wealth of experience, feeling and satisfaction - within you, if only you look with an honest heart. Resolve to find yourself, accept yourself, trust yourself and you will be well on the way to finding that life, for you, has much to offer - your task is to find out what and enjoy the experience along the way.
• Do you have good habits? How will you consistently make good, valued and responsible decisions if you don't have good habits, or are not willing to develop them? Habits sound boring and old fashioned? Maybe? But we all have them. We all do certain things in certain ways and don't like to stray from trusted and well-oiled routes. (Even shaving I go through the same motions each time. Start on my right cheek . . . I'm sure you can provide your own example(s).) If we have habits for the mundane and the routine, why should we not have good habits for things that really matter to us in life? For the real decision making in life. Food for thought . . . ?
• Do you put indecision in its place? It is so easy to get into a cycle of not deciding something - putting it off until the rainy day, as we say. Sometimes this is a good strategy as life changes and the decisions required change with it. But mostly not deciding something just means we are putting off the effort or the need to examine our situation, to some undetermined and future date and time. And then they can all mount up and we can easily get swamped and feel out of our depth; this can deepen the cycle and make it harder to get started. But we have all experienced that often the hardest thing is that first step - after that we gain momentum and off we can go.
• Do you evaluate and examine what you do (or intend to do)? Do you? Do I? I'd like to think I did, but do I? Obviously not all the time, but it does make sense to do so, doesn't it? By giving a bit of thought to what we do and how we do it makes sense, and can ease our passage through life by avoiding some easily predicted pitfalls.
• What ambitions do you have? We should all have ambitions. And based upon good solid principles, and not fly by night chaotic and unreasonable expectations. Love yourself enough to believe that you can achieve more. Trust yourself and give life a chance to let you find that your trust is well founded. You may well be surprised at what you can do and accomplish.
• Do you enjoy discovery? If you watch your children or grandchildren don't they love each day. A real voyage of discovery for them, is it not? Can we not make life the same adventure? OK, not all the time maybe, but sufficiently to excite us. To want us to discover more. To have things to look forward to. To find out more and more about ourselves and this life we have - each and every day.
• Do you meet choice with dignity? Seldom are we given only one avenue to go along - unless it is a one-way street! We can go this way or that, and choose this or that. Not all the time will we savor the choices we are given. But life does really have silver linings (like those metaphorical clouds in the sky), and round that next corner (of our life) light can come and transport us further along our path. Honor and respect life and yourself - and at least as much as you respect your best friend or confidant.
• Do you have sincerity and patience? Well do you? And not just for friend and circumstance, but for yourself also. When we do something we should be trying our best, giving of our best. We can then respect ourselves, and be respected by others, too. Is that not what we want? And to be patient in time of need may seem difficult but gives us contentment and satisfaction that we have really tried to do the best we can. We can then look back with pride on the things we have done, the actions we have made.

By answering these questions for ourselves, and questions like them, we can really examine our life, see what we are doing and why. Life will then become less of a riddle for us and more satisfying and productive. And probing life further will help us to formulate a plan, a way to take life forward - and claim the future for ourselves that we richly deserve.