Freedom, autonomy, power, self-determination. As humans we naturally desire a sense of control over ourselves, our environment, even other people. We must recognize that our freedom starts with our choices. We all have the power to make choices. This includes the power to choose our attitude, our goals, our focus and priorities, our purpose and our values. We do not necessarily choose where we start, and many things in life are beyond our direct control, but recognizing all the power of choice that we do control is vital to unleashing the joy that freedom brings. The more you exert the power to choose, the more powerful it becomes. The more you pay attention to all of the choices you have, the more you will appreciate the many types of freedom you possess.
Recognition of choices and the influences on our decisions gives us freedom and helps us grow and thrive. By focusing on the powerful and important choices we can make with respect to our direction, our demeanor, our speech, our actions, our goals and ambitions, we will begin to live more fully, more joyfully and more connected. The more we understand ourselves, our personalities, thinking process, emotional drivers and values, the more we can optimize our decision making skills. We can also release the factors that are beyond our direct control from our immediate cause for concern. We can certainly focus efforts on solving big problems, especially through collective effort, but we must learn to focus most of our energy on the things we can directly influence and create. Learning to prioritize and focus effort is a big key to effective action and accomplishment.
Learning to slow down our mind though quiet contemplation is an important step to making good decisions. This does not mean we need to make slow decisions or not react swiftly and promptly when indicated and necessary. In fact, learning to quiet the mind from distraction and recognize thoughts and feelings as transient and somewhat random, allows us to better focus on the most important choices and decisions we face. Understanding that we are capable of generating many types of thought and just because a thought, belief or feeling reaches our consciousness does not make it true or necessary to act upon. Contemplative practice can actually help us to make better decisions quickly as we are able to promptly separate important from less important details. The more we can align our conscious and subconscious thought processes and emotional drivers, our right and left brains, our mind, body and spirit in pursuit of our purpose and priorities, the more we will gain a sense of our freedom of choice and an appreciation for the potential joys of life.
This ability is also helpful and necessary to harness our power to overcome negative influences on our actions such as bad habits and addictions. Learning to notice the moment, between an urge to soothe our feelings and our immediate desire to act in ways that may bring temporary relief but are harmful in the long run, is an ability which can be acquired and mastered. Anger, frustration, loneliness, despair, stress, anxiety and feeling overwhelmed cause us to seek relief. Relief comes in the form of dopamine surge in the limbic system in our brain. Some of the things that create this dopamine surge and provide the relief from distress we seek include drugs, alcohol, nicotine, sugar and sexual imagery or activity. Yet these things, particularly when consumed in excess, can harm our bodies, impair our thinking, undermine our relationships and destroy our emotional well-being, even though they were pursued to relieve suffering initially. Understanding the triggers to our cravings and our desire for relief in the form of temporary pleasure, enables us to gain power over those triggers and gives us the opportunity to decide on how we will find the relief we seek.
Clearly, pleasure has a purpose and is a wonderful and amazing part of the human experience. Life without pleasure would be boring and joyless. Yet, understanding the pursuit of pleasure as a cyclic process, prone to excess, and ultimately without a long term sense of fulfillment, gives us the ability to choose healthier, more positive and productive means of soothing our distress, relieving our suffering, improving our feelings and creating a better life for ourselves and those we care about. Knowing that physical exertion, laughter, music, dance, positive human communication, creative expression, artistry, generosity, love and spiritual connection can provide the same relief of distress without the negative consequences helps us make the better choice in that brief and fleeting moment. Even better, pursuing our purpose with passion can reduce or prevent the negative emotional triggers that lead to unhealthy coping behaviors and long term suffering.