Pathwalking 266
One of the hardest questions for many people to answer is – what do you want?
For some, the reason this is difficult is because of fear that if they answer wrong, they’ll be unhappy with the outcome. For some, there are many things they want and that is causing them to waffle. For some they sincerely do not know what they want. However, in all probability, it’s some combination of all of the above.
Decision making can be surprisingly challenging. Some people just know what they want, make a choice, process complete. Some people need to sleep on it, think it over, explore multiple angles, and have as complete information as they can get before deciding. Some people get so flustered by choices before them, they frequently make no decision at all, or when they do there is so little conviction behind it that they might as well have not bothered.
Why are we so afraid to choose wrong? Very few decisions are truly life or death, and while many do have consequences, few are irreversible. Certainly we might find ourselves somewhere we would prefer not to be because of a choice we made, but there are times when the unexpected consequence of a choice turns out to be even better than what we were deciding on in the first place.
Let me clarify here that this in reference to the very personal choices we make in regards to what we want for our own lives. Yes, the world today is full of people who make decisions without any thought behind them, and they appear to end up in ludicrous places or cause other issues. This is a far broader matter, though it is in part a reflection of the inability of many to know what they want and choose as such.
Pathwalking is about seeking out and choosing my own destiny, my own path in life to achieve the things I want. I have, over the five years of this process I’ve shared, expressed that there will always be multiple paths, because life is not so simple or one-size-fits-all. Once the goal of an intended path has been reached, there will be a new goal and a new path to travel.
That’s also a scary thing for many. You go through all the trouble of doing all the things to get what you want…and then once you have it, how long do you get to enjoy it before you need to choose again? Why bother if every time you succeed at reaching the completion of the path you have to start again?
That’s the thing – it’s actually a GOOD thing to have more paths to choose. Whether we like it or not, life is always in motion, frequently shifting, changing, ever forward. We will encounter new people and experience new things, and this in turn will change us. When we change we have new goals, new values, new ideas to explore, and unlike the rest of the animal kingdom, we frequently get to partake in creation.
Most of the rest of the animals on this planet have only one goal. Survive. They do not care about ambitions, success and failure, how other people think of them, fun, stress, and so on. They simply live life, strive to survive and thrive, and that’s the long and short of it. Humans lead far more complex existences.
In regards to Pathwalking in Practice, how does one explore and take some form of action in regards to the decision making process? This can take several forms, so I want to address one that is specific, and one that is broader.
On the broad choices – the original question I asked is, What do you want? What are you seeking from this life? There are certainly many different things, tangible or intangible, that this applies to. A job, finding a lover, a home, a friend- these are all goals we want to achieve. One of the challenges for me on this end, personally, is clarity. I need to be clearer, more definite about the end result I desire.
SO – I am writing it down. That is my action – answer the question. What overarching thing is it I want from a given path I am walking? What end result am I desiring? I have a vague idea of the answer, but I think one reason why I have yet to accomplish it is that I am not totally clear. I will write it out to create that clarity.
On the subject of specific choices – there are always decisions to make. Every day we get to ask questions like what do I want to do for dinner; do I go to the gym; what shirt should I wear today; and so on. For many, even these simple, day-to-day questions can cause paralysis.
The action I will take is to not answer with “I don’t know” or “Why don’t you choose?” or the ever popular, “Well what do YOU want?” I can take a moment, and by a moment I mean less than a minute, but I then have to choose something. I need to be decisive rather than indecisive, and take action.
Thought is where every path begins. Then you feel it out. Then you act upon it. As I am looking to show others my methods for walking one’s own paths in life, putting matters into practice are how I will take this to the next level. That’s one of MY chosen paths.
What’s your Pathwalking in Practice plan? What do YOU want?
This is the two-hundred sixty-sixth entry in my series. These weekly posts are ideas and my personal experiences in walking along the path of life. I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world along the way.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-blog and share.
The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available here.
If you enjoy Pathwalking, you may also want to read my Five Easy Steps to Change the World for the Better.
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