EVER PLAY WHAT IF?

There's a book I love called, “What If.” Great military historians ponder what might have been if… the Cuban missile crisis hadn’t been avoided, if D-Day didn’t fail, etc…I generally don't enjoy this sort of curious conjecture, but i was quite intreiqed by the concept that in the blink of an eye, one decision, could forever alter the course of history of the entire world – for good or bad. The stories inspired a tangential trail of thought and an 'ah-ha' moment. The value of pondering 'what might have been if,’ reveals a much more powerful lesson - the importance of making good, thoughtful, authentic, well informed decisions in any given moment.

History is a great gameboard on which to play this game of 'what if,' as lessons are often obvious. At the top of our hierarchy, the great leaders of our world, sure do have a tough job. They carry the weight of humanity on their shoulders. In any given day, most of their decisions can affect millions, even billions of lives and centuries of history yet to be written. Each move, displayed to the public and fair game for all the world to disect and judge.

On a smaller, yet potentially grander scale, we, as individuals in this great collective of human beings, are responsible for our own lives and destinies to a great extent. I consider the timeline of my own life and the sequencne of events that have led me to right now. Then I play the 'what if' game with myself. We all have those retrospect judgements - if only we had taken more time to listen to our ‘gut’ instinct, or more time to research a better school, job or program, or more time to be with our loved one. If only our foresight was as keen as our hindsight, we might have avoided great suffering. But then there are those times we did act thoughtfully and make wise moves and richness followed.

There are of course, many things to beware of when playing the ‘what if’ game: 1) over intellectualizing. This can lead to more confusion, delayed reaction and undesired outcomes. 2) Guilt and remorse for past transgressions - Take your lessons and rejoice that the past is over 3) Watch out for excessive blame placing on others, or seemingly uncontrollable circumstances. Avoid pretending you have no hand in your destiny and look subsurface. 4) Keep the purpose of playing ‘what if’ in the forefront of your mind: to learn and practice the value and importance of taking time to make good decisions.

The truth is, good, thoughtful decisions generally yield better results that hasty, haphazard ones. We owe it to ourselves, and the people around us, to be informed, patient and still. If one decision could forever alter your life as you know it, for better or worse, wouldn’t you stop, find a quiet place and consider your options? And if your life or someone else’s life depended on it, you would probably make an even more thoughtful decision. And if that decision was to be made public, how would you move then? And just when you get situated to take time out think about your one big decision, you might realize that any single moment could present a life altering decision.

Wise choices require valid information, appropriate analysis and time alone listen to your own wisdom. But with only 12-18 waking hours in a day, we can’t possibly devote enough quiet time to each decision we face. Therefore, we must cultivate ongoing quiet space in our homes, our lives, and our minds and bodies. From this regular state of calm, cool, connectedness, we are able to create our desired future, simply by being present today.