Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart.
Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart.
INDIAN PROVERB
In a world resplendent with countless distractions across myriad topics, it is quite easy for one to get lost or trapped by far too many choices.
Like the proverbial kid in a candy store, we may find ourselves dazzled by so many options as to make our brain salivate for the opportunity to engage with many of them. Given the necessity to narrow the field, we are left with only the pragmatic choice of prioritizing our options.
In this prioritization, we are offered numerous opportunities to sort through the variables, such that we might wind down to the very best one for ourselves. Depending upon the situation, those choices may well be highly competitive with one another, making the decision making process ever more difficult. This leaves us in the tumultuous position of learning how to negate options that would, under any other circumstance, present themselves as a first draft pick.
If we are clear in our thought process, it truly is the one that captures the heart that leaves us decidedly determined to pick them above all else.
Have you ever been to an amazing bakery with case after case of sumptuous delights, each waiting for your joyous consumption? As you walk down the cases, delicacy after delicacy scream out to you, begging you to pick them and allow them to (temporarily) sate your desire for such a treat. The longer you travel the cases, the more options present themselves. In short order, the ones that were top of the decision list in the first case, are but a shadow of a memory, as ever more delightful options are discovered.
Life is actually full of these moments, and if we are quick to pick the tastiest selection from the first case, we may discover that we have tremendous buyer’s remorse as we sit down to enjoy it and see the even more amazing option being consumed at the table adjacent to us.
This leaves us in a tenuous predicament. If we are continuously holding out for whatever will be in the next case, we may never make our choice, and as a result, we may never have the joy of consuming any of them. Conversely, if we are too cautious about avoiding such an outcome, we may be too quick to decide, and discover our hasty decision was not as wise as we may have hoped.
Life is the delicate balance of walking the row of cases, sorting out the options at our disposal and enabling that deep inner voice of the heart to vocalize its preference, such that we may ultimately sit down at our table to enjoy the treat, without looking at any of the surrounding tables with remorse or disappointment.
In the choice to be discriminant, we learn that at a certain point, it is wiser to finally make a determination, and stick with it, than to opt for what appears to be best for us, and live with a continuous feeling of regret and disappointment. These may appear to be light-hearted issues at a pastry counter, but when applied to choosing a field of advanced study, a career option, the choice of a spouse or other highest level determinations, the prescient ability to learn this lesson could not be more important.
Happy Friday!
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