Decision Time
If there’s time to change your mind,
It isn’t yet time to decide.
This is a very taoist way of looking at things. It’s called being flexible, and living in uncertainty. Now, most of us want to be certain. We want to know where we are going, to have plans in place and an order to things. But how do you know which plan is good, and which you are just clinging to out of habit? How do you know if the plan you made in the past is still applicable to who you are right now?
I love the following metaphor I’ve heard used about decision making, and the stress that we often cause ourselves, simply by trying to decide too early, before we have the relevant information: It can be like deciding which foot you are going to step off the curb of the pavement with, when that curb is down the road and round the corner from where you are now. It is plain to see, the time to make that decision is when you are at the curb and not before.
So it is with our lives. We can stay awake and open, and learn to live with the uncertainty that we do not know what we are going to do until we do it, until the time to act is upon us. We can make plans, we can even take care of business as if those plans are certain, but we can do so with flexibility in mind. We can change at the last moment if we suddenly realize it isn’t right for us.
So, make plans, but do not hold them too tightly. Set intentions, but stay open to surprises and the unexpected. Be willing to be uncertain, and you’ll be happy. You can be certain of that.