I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about where we find ourselves now; as a person, a family, a community and globally. We are currently living in a very unusual time. Our choices, our freedoms… for work, connection to others, play and school have been drastically altered by the current health and safety restrictions. We may find our sense of control over our lives has become even more limited, defined by others in a far greater way than ever before. This light chat then brought up a question; How much do I live my life or… how much does my life live me?
I feel that this question has the opportunity to be distilled into one word; Choice! What choice do I/you have in the decisions which shape my/your daily life and the movement forward? And if there is an option for a choice, how much do I/you exercise the ability of choice?
When I think about the power of choice I remember back to a story I had been told once the really highlights the idea of conscious vs. unconscious choice. It is the story of how medium size beverages were first created. The story begins in a movie theatre where there were originally only two sizes of drinks; Regular and Large. By nature, the vast majority of us want to “fit in” and be the same as those around us, so most of the people were ordering the “regular” size. So, some enterprising person who wanting to create higher revenue at the theatre decided to add an additional size… a small. But, instead of adding a smaller cup they changed the current “regular cup” to be the “small”, the current “large cup” to be the new “regular” or “medium” and then had a larger size created. The pricing for the “small” and “regular” stayed the same and the “large” was at an increased rate. What was observed was that the customers, in majority bought the “regular” or “medium” size (remember this used to be the large). Sales for beverages went up as well as volume sold. This story illustrates so well the power of “choice”. The customers were given another option and felt they had more of a choice… however, when one looks at the progression of the sizes and pricing… was there really a conscious choice? All these people who had rarely if ever purchased the “large” size drink in the past were now consuming this in safety as it was now “regular” or “medium”.
If everything then can is motivated by choice, what is the power of choice? When we chose to speak more authentically and with compassion, our relationships have the opportunity for change, for growth, to be greater than we may have originally thought possible. Choice can help us strive for more, to be more, to know more and choice also gives us the ability to be okay with where we are. Choice can be exhilarating as well as debilitating… choice of words, of actions, of love… each choice has the power to transform us and gives us the ability to be the architect of our own life. So, the question remains; how much do you live your life and how much does your life live you?
