Making Healthy Choices

Making decisions is one of the most important aspects of our life journey and has a profound influence on the roads we take and what we encounter along the way. We can walk the roads of our life in elegance or pain. Decisions and choices direct us along the path of life and to a great extent determine if we enjoy the ride or suffer through it.

Choices may be made consciously or subconsciously. Some decisions are made in a conscious process of weighing advantages verses disadvantages and only then making the final decision. However, some of the choices we make are decided upon subconsciously. These subconscious choices are the result of automated information processing. They can be good choices or bad ones conditioned on the type of pre-stored information you have and your past events.

Many people's lives are run by automatic, subconscious choices based on a very grim collection of information. The biggest problem is that decisions made unconsciously are difficult to access and pin point and therefore also very difficult to change.

In many cases, people can't believe that they made some of the decision they realize they have. This is the outcome of automatic choice making, with no awareness of the process itself. At the time these people were not aware that a choice process was going on.

This re-stresses the significant role awareness plays in our lives. Counting on automation is dangerous because you can't know how beneficial the choices are for you at any given moment. This is a considerable difficulty.

Self awareness allows you to make choices that are resourceful . This is a big advantage. This way you can always be in touch with your needs and change your decisions accordingly.

There are three main types of decisions. Decisions that address personal affairs decisions that address other people and decisions that address specific areas of expertise. Each uses a different set of standards but all three decision types are better made in the conscious rather than the automatic mode.

A good example of decisions that pertain to the Self is deciding on life style. Needless to say that many people strive for life styles that reflect social standards and expectations. The base for this decision becomes what will gain the most social recognition not what is most appropriate for the individual.

Decisions that address the self must be made within the context of the self. You are the only one that can know what best supports you. Choosing what suits you using other's standards, dramatically reduces the chances of making resourceful choices.

Making decision for other people requires that we consider their best interest not our own. Parents who make decisions for their children need to transcend beyond the boundaries of their past experiences and focus on what serves their child. Projecting your experience to your child's is more often than not inappropriate and incompatible.

When confronting the need to decide on professional type issues, such as health decisions seeking professional advice is the best strategy. with that said, even the best professional advice must be appropriate for the individual and should be put to the test of the individual context.

Never under-estimate the power of decisions making skills. They carry the potential to change your life.