For example, I have a tendency to pack some of my days with appointments. I am an introvert. If there is a typical advice for any introvert it is not to overwhelm oneself. This choice of scheduling my calendar so as not to overwhelm self is exercised in the matter of a second. It is exercised when I choose not to yield to an appointment or two even in the face of many demands on my time. This small choice that I make on a daily basis retains or destroys my otherwise high quality day.
Similar are decisions related to the food we eat, the time at which we eat this food and the repercussions thereof; the tasks we take up in our day and their relative importance or unimportance at that moment. These are small choices but those with a cascading effect. One incorrect choice can mess up the rest of the day.
When I am traveling long distance on a road trip, I make one correct small choice of sitting in the bucket seat next to the driver. This way I have many advantages that other seats do not offer. I can enjoy the road better. I can schedule my sleeping time uninfluenced by the rest of the troupe that is almost like a unified block in the middle and the rear seats. I can do my thing instead of being carried away by what the rest of the group tends to do together. And optionally I can also participate with the group when I wish to. In short I become the master of my experience. One small correct choice at the time of seat-picking and the rest of the trip becomes a pleasure.
So what decides the possibility that we make hundreds of these correct choices through the day, the week, the month? Our awareness. Each of us has the wisdom to distinguish between a correct and incorrect decision. The capacity to think wisely is not the issue. The issue is that we don’t exercise our awareness with enough authority. Being carried by an incorrect impulse, we drift with it. The rational human brain isn’t able to ride over our instinct-ridden reptilian brain. Absence of awareness is the real issue.
What does it take to keep this awareness high? Nothing much. All it takes is one tiny bit of an awareness that we have to keep this awareness high. This monitoring whether we are succeeding or failing in this game of awareness is good enough to keep us on track. And it’s not difficult to garner this first bit of an awareness. We choose to exercise it once we see how much it can make our lives easier.
