How often have you heard yourself or others exclaim: " If only I hadn't done that" or "sometimes I'm so stupid," or " I should have known better" or "I always make the wrong choices"?
In many of my "Decision" workshops, any one of the exclamations noted above has been all too familiar a refrain by the participants. Take a moment and think back to your childhood. Were any of you untouched by the too typical refrain from a parent. "There you did it again," or "Next time, think before you act", or "Why must you be so clumsy?" or " You need to take a lesson from your sister (brother)".
Unfortunately, we take many of these statements to heart and carry the attitude expressed by our parent into adulthood. For many of us, we've failed to realize that our parents were far from models of virtue when it came to making the "right" decision when they were children, and their parents as well, and on and on through generations as far back as the beginning of families. Regardless, is there such a thing as a right or wrong decision?
The bottom line is that we are all as imperfect as the next person. Take the time to examine the ramifications of any decision you made, conscious or unconscious, and ask yourself what you learned. Whether it was a major or minor decision, with a negative or positive outcome, how were you affected? Also, how did it influence subsequent decisions you made? Did you wonder when you asked yourself: " What if I chose the other decision?" You'd never know would you? Think about it.
