RIGHT AND WRONG DECISIONS:
If you obsess over whether you are making the right decision, you are
basically assuming that the universe will reward you for one thing and punish you for another. This isn’t a
correct assumption because the universe is flexible—it adapts to every decision you make. Right and
wrong are only mental constructs. Immediately I can hear strong emotional objections to this. What about
Mister Right? What about the perfect job? What about buying the best car? We are all in the habit of
looking like consumers at people, jobs, and cars, wanting best value for the money. But in reality the
decisions we label as right and wrong are arbitrary. Mister Right is one of a hundred or a thousand
people you could spend a satisfying life with. The best job is impossible to define, given that jobs turn out
to be good or bad depending on a dozen factors that come into play only after you start the job. (Who
knows in advance what your co-workers will be like, what the corporate climate is, whether you will
have the right idea at the right moment?) And the best car may get driven into an accident two days after
you buy it.
The universe has no fixed agenda. Once you make any decision, it works around that decision. There is
no right or wrong, only a series of possibilities that shift with each thought, feeling, and action that you
experience. If this sounds too mystical, refer again to your body. Every significant vital sign—body
temperature, heart rate, oxygen consumption, hormone level, brain activity, and so on—alters the
moment you decide to do anything. A runner’s metabolism can’t afford to be as low as the metabolism of
someone reading a book because, without increased air intake and faster heart rate, the runner would
suffocate and collapse with muscle spasms.
Decisions are signals telling your body, mind, and environment to move in a certain direction. It may turn
out afterward that you feel dissatisfied with the direction you’ve taken, but to obsess over right and
wrong decisions is the same as taking no direction at all. Keep in mind that you are the choice-maker,
which means that who you are is far more than any single choice you have ever made or ever will make!
Extract from:
The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life by Deepak Chopra.
If you obsess over whether you are making the right decision, you are
basically assuming that the universe will reward you for one thing and punish you for another. This isn’t a
correct assumption because the universe is flexible—it adapts to every decision you make. Right and
wrong are only mental constructs. Immediately I can hear strong emotional objections to this. What about
Mister Right? What about the perfect job? What about buying the best car? We are all in the habit of
looking like consumers at people, jobs, and cars, wanting best value for the money. But in reality the
decisions we label as right and wrong are arbitrary. Mister Right is one of a hundred or a thousand
people you could spend a satisfying life with. The best job is impossible to define, given that jobs turn out
to be good or bad depending on a dozen factors that come into play only after you start the job. (Who
knows in advance what your co-workers will be like, what the corporate climate is, whether you will
have the right idea at the right moment?) And the best car may get driven into an accident two days after
you buy it.
The universe has no fixed agenda. Once you make any decision, it works around that decision. There is
no right or wrong, only a series of possibilities that shift with each thought, feeling, and action that you
experience. If this sounds too mystical, refer again to your body. Every significant vital sign—body
temperature, heart rate, oxygen consumption, hormone level, brain activity, and so on—alters the
moment you decide to do anything. A runner’s metabolism can’t afford to be as low as the metabolism of
someone reading a book because, without increased air intake and faster heart rate, the runner would
suffocate and collapse with muscle spasms.
Decisions are signals telling your body, mind, and environment to move in a certain direction. It may turn
out afterward that you feel dissatisfied with the direction you’ve taken, but to obsess over right and
wrong decisions is the same as taking no direction at all. Keep in mind that you are the choice-maker,
which means that who you are is far more than any single choice you have ever made or ever will make!
Extract from:
The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life by Deepak Chopra.
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