Conscious Choices

"I choose my own life, I always have. I choose my own behavior, my emotions, my thoughts, my illnesses, my body, my reactions, and my spontaneity."

This little exercise is a simple way to become more aware of what you believe about your choices and it is an exercise that is part of Radical Collaboration and The Human Element. The intention with this exercise is to to create awareness about our belief system related to choice. 

To what extent do you believe in this statement?

If I ask you to think about the concept of choice, how much do you believe in self-determination or choice on a scale of 0-9? Where 0 means everything happens to me without any control, and 9 means I choose everything that happens in my own life.

Close your eyes and feel it, see a number come up for you, what number is it?

Choice is a Belief System

Choice is all about perspective and beliefs and if you gather a group of people and ask them all what they think about choice you will discover that most people think different than what you do. 

Some people believe that you choose everything, while feel that there are many things that are outside of their control. These are just a few viewpoints but it will influence how we behave, if we look for solutions and opportunities or if we just give up. 

Consciousness About Your Belief System

Consciousness is about becoming aware of your subconscious mind and your beliefs. Sometimes you might say; "I don´t have a choice in this situation, my hands are tied, there is nothing I can do" 

An alternative perspective could be; "I feel this situation is rather locked, but I know what I want so I will try my best to find a solution, I believe I have choices in this situation"  

Two people could say these exact statements based on their belief system around choice. Becoming aware of what stories you tell yourself in different situations helps you increase your awareness and sometimes awareness can make you take an empowering view where you feel that there is choice. 

Knowing that you have a Belief System and what it tells you is the first step to start choosing empowering views and perspectives for different situations you may find yourself in. 

Observing your energy-level can be one way of knowing what you subconsciously believe. If you feel that you don´t have much choice, it is often disempowering and energy draining. Whenever this happens to you, get curious! 

Curiosity 

Where does your belief system come from? Your belief system is influenced by expectations of people around us, systems, and structures, even family and friends. Learning to separate what belongs to others and what are your genuine opinions and options in any given situation helps you to free yourself from expectations. Instead you can get curious on many different levels. 

Curiosity is a great tool that you can use to become even more aware of your conscious and unconscious choices. Here are some questions you might want to ask yourself and use to check-in with yourself; 

• What brings me joy and energy?
• What drains me of energy and joy?
• What do I need to say yes to more often?
• What do I need to say no to more often?

If you find it difficult to observe yourself and delve into what brings you more or less energy and joy, it may be helpful to talk to a professional coach who can help you see things from new perspectives and reflect back to you the perspectives you hold here and now.