by Dan Creamer

Created on: January 13, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created-created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made , and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.-Anonymous.

It seems to me that there is enough truth in the above to make it worthy of contemplation. I agree, we are all in the process of creating our future, but I believe we do that through a process, that is ultimately, the result of the choices we make.

Choices come in a couple of varieties. Well thought out and puposeful. Instinctive, or what we think passes for instintict, and rationalized. The difference between rationalized and thoughtful is the integrity applied to the result.

I am always amazed at the young people in this family and elsewhere, who develope this ability so much earlier in life then say, I did. In my youth, it was always too tempting to accept rationalizations that justified the result I thought I wanted, rather then applying the full weight of my capacity to analyse all possible results and apply the integrity test.

The difference between the thoughtful, rationalized and instinctive is the amount of time we take to make a choice. Frequently, if not always, instinctive choices only seem so. They are really just choices already made, so that when the circumstances necessitating choice arise, it is already made. This can be either a conscious or seeminly unconscious process. They can also be the result of emotional reaction, bereft of any mental consideration or in the moment thoughtfullness at all. Unreasonable anger, emotional outburst, impetuous reaction to some stimulus, all of these can be cloked in instinct, but they are really just choices already made.

Someone once told me that if you could just slow yourself down in those circumstances, where you react badly, and think it through, you would make better choices. Personally I could not make consistent use of that advice. However, when I finally realized that I could make choices in advance, it provided a much better result in those instances where before my choices had been less reasoned. Not perfect but progress.

The integrity test is another great tool. what does your gut tell you? When that small, quiet,nagging and uncomfortable feeling tells you that you are making a poor choice, do you listen? To deny yourself that unsolicted advice that surely gurantees a better out come is the height of human folly, driven by human reason.

Kathleen and I were out earlier this evening and she asked me if it was alright for her to see a particular movie. I inquired as to the rating and she replied that it was pg13. Then she went on to tell me what she thought the movie was about and that earlier when she and her friends had been at the movies to see another show, they had been tempted to see this one instead. She says " Brittny wanted to see it but I told her I couldn't untill I asked you. I just didn't feel right about it." I am so grateful that she not only hears but listens to that small voice urging correct choices. The same little voice that we can all lose if we ignore it too often.

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