The little things in life trip us up so easily:
- Which brand of yogurt are you getting in the grocery?
- Which sport are you going to get into during the summer?
- Which country are you going to go during your honeymoon?
These lead to much bigger things ….and much more dangerous questions:
- Which school are you sending your kids to?
- Which qualities are you looking for in a life partner?
- Which career path are you going to choose when you graduate from university?
All of these questions have the word “Which” in them.
“Which” is a pronoun that has much more pronounced use this modern day and age.
Modern life means more accessibility, and more accessibility means that all of us are bombarded with choices the moment we wake up until the moment we sleep at night.
I have a theory.
I believe that issues with productivity and efficiency among people these days aren’t only a question of laziness and negligence of the typical person. I believe that the myriad of choices that people are blasted with at every turn create an even bigger question…
What are our principles and values in life?
This seemingly basic, but very profound question is precisely why we are dissatisfied, overwhelmed, and suffering.
We basically suffer in life because we don’t understand what we stand for. Why do we keep procrastinating? Are we happy with where our careers are headed right now? What makes us feel a sense of fulfillment in our lives? What does success mean to us?
Life has a different definition for us. However, we have to find that out for ourselves.
Without a sense of direction and compass that only we can determine, life will eat us up by making that decision for us. Remember, we are what we tolerate in our lives. If that means we will be stuck scrolling endlessly on social media apps, putting off doing our passion projects, eating junk food and being a couch potato, we’re still making a choice.
We can only define ourselves based on the principles and values that we deem important to us. This leads me to my next point…
The first thing we should prioritize is our awareness.
Eckhart Tolle once said, “Awareness is the greatest agent for change.”
Becoming aware though, contrary to popular belief, does not require us to do more things, but less. It requires slowing down. Self-awareness is also extremely hard to achieve, so much so, that some people never achieve this in their whole lifetime!
It takes an immense amount of courage to look deeply into ourselves, into the deepest recesses of our heart and mind and pluck out core events and memories that shaped us into who we are now. It also helps us understand why we behave, think, and feel the way we do. We could have had traumatic experiences as a child, a relationship gone awry, a business that has gone bankrupt, among other events that we haven’t had the mental space to process.
Events in our lives that aren’t processed will remain unprocessed unless we face them head-on and make sense of them healthily. We must have resolved the issues with our past to see the present in an authentic way, unfooled and unfazed by the personal biases we have. We will become more intentional with our lives, prioritizing the important things like relationships with our loved ones, our own health, and how we can contribute to society in our own way.
The lives we lead now are much more advanced, but it will only leave those who are insecure, indecisive, reactive, and those uncomfortable in their own skin behind. The world is filled with perpetual distractions, hogging for time and attention. These distractions fuel our own perverse vices, bad habits, and don’t provide any real value to our lives.
Living life with a purpose is the only way to live because we wouldn’t want to become sheep, devoid of our own opinion. What fulfillment is there to live a life we haven’t chosen for ourselves?
A life we choose forges the path, and the choices crystal clear.