Choice Vs. Decision

Your head or your heart

 

Why is that? Could it be that some part of us thinks if we decide one thing, we’re going to lose or miss out on something else? Most people move on choices and hesitate on decisions. Logically, they're the same thing. Emotionally, they're very different. A decision is often looked at as an unpleasant thing we have to do. A choice is usually seen as moving toward the better of multiple options.

Put another way, a choice feels like exercising a preference. A decision often feels like excluding one or more options. This is a subtle distinction between your heart and your head. Coming from your heart tends to create a mindset of choosing that doesn't bring up feelings of decision resistance. Your head on the other hand is analytic, fast and calculated. Important, yes, but being aware of the difference is key to balancing business, life and love.

 

A lesson in Psychology 101

 

Stay with me here! I’m going to get a little nerdy but it's necessary to understand the psychological factors to deepen your awareness as to why you do what you do and have the ability to change course if necessary.

 

STOP!

 

Stop for a moment and notice how you feel inside when you think you have to decide something. Go on, do it now... Remember this is experiential learning! Does it feel different from how you feel when you get to choose something?

 

Definitions

 

Let’s look up the definitions of the words DECIDE and CHOICE. My analytical friends are so proud of me right now! So the root word of decision: DECIDE. It contains the Latin root of “cide” which means to “cut down or kill.” Suicide, genocide, homicide, pesticide, etc. You get the picture. Because the words we think and say have a lot of meaning to us, on a subconscious level- Neuroscience and The Secret collide- Many of us experience at a subconscious level a lot more angst and inner conflict when we use the word decision. Our limiting belief system from the past or as I like to say “BS” from the past rears its ugly head and say, Wait!! Danger Will Robinson! Danger!

 

The B.S. Factor

 

Decide

 

When we feel that we have to decide something, LBS, or as I like to say Limiting Bull Shit from our past creates anxiety in the moment creating internal conflict. We often buy into the BS quickly and without hesitation that if we decide one thing, we will lose something else instead of seeing the bigger picture. Can you think of a scenario where you if like you’re going to lose out? For instance, “if I decide on that, then I lose out on x.”

 

Choice

 

A choice on the other hand creates a sense of freedom. Hence the bigger picture. The dictionary states: CHOICE: The act of choosing; selection. The power, right, or liberty to choose; option. Haaaa... Now say it with me... Choice... How does it make you feel? When you CHOOSE or make a CHOICE instead of DECIDE or make a DECISION, notice what happens in your body.  Pay close attention to the words you use daily because your meaning and my meaning often times involve reasoning and are involuntary. Meaning that the words we use and the feelings we attach to them are shaped by a person’s temperament and experiences and vary greatly from person to person and situation to situation. In other words, feelings are labels for emotions which are more subjective. Two people can feel the same emotion but label it using different names. For example, the word ‘fight’ to me means someone is going to get hit, for someone else it could mean love as in to fight for my mother’s attention.

 

Your emotions (The Pink Lens of SATORI and feelings (The Red Lens of SATORI) play a powerful role in how you experience and interact with the world because they are the driving force behind many behaviors, helpful and unhelpful.  

We truly have forgotten to slow down and let our intuition play a part in our daily lives and our businesses. Say “I CHOOSE” and immediately you get a sense of or a feeling of freedom. Your subconscious is at rest, peaceful and open. Paying attention to the words we use in our daily communications with others, no matter how slight, makes a huge difference in how it is heard and received as well as how we feel about it.

 

You got the skills baby!

 

Aside from raising the level of your communication skills, an added benefit is realizing that there is no such thing as a wrong choice, there is only the choice we make in the moment; and the next moment and the next.