Making the Right Choice

People don't make the right choice even though they know it is right because of one reason. The right choice is not attractive enough.

An unattractive right choice will cause you to make the wrong choice even though you don't want to. Why? Because the wrong choice looked better or made you feel better than the right one did.

Example: I was eating lunch with one of my sons and his friend, they both ordered a hamburger. I on the other hand ordered a salad. When our meals arrived everyone of course looked at each others plate. The burgers looked delicious, thick, juicy, the homemade type. My plate on the other hand looked like rabbit food. The guys looked at mine and then at theirs and said, "I can't believe you chose that salad over one of these burgers." I looked at my plate and back at those beautiful mouth watering burgers and said to myself. "I can't believe I chose that either". My mind immediately wanted to order a burger. However, I switched modes and changed my choice. I said, "Guys I didn't choose the salad, what I chose was health and long life." This simple true statement allowed me to resist the burger with ease and keep my pattern of healthy eating in place. I changed my choice from something that was unattractive to something that was attractive to me.

If the choice you have to make seems hard, you are making the wrong choice. Look deeper and further until you find a better choice that is much easier to make and follow through.

Besides food, let's apply this principle to another area many struggle with, smoking.

If you really want to quit smoking and can't; it is probably because you are looking at the wrong choice: To smoke or not to smoke.

Why not think this way? Do not choose to just to quit smoking but rather choose to:
Live longer and healthier
Spend more active time with those you love
Have better breath
Have healthier skin
Be able to breathe better
Spend more time in the arms of your spouse
Spend more quality time with your children
Enable yourself to watch your grandkids grow up
Have that much more money left at the end of the month for other things
Have cheaper health and life insurance premiums

If you look deep enough you will find a positive more attractive reason to make your choice easier. Keep trying until you find the right one. It is out there.

You can apply this simple but effective principle in every area of your life.

Finances:
Choosing a house over going out to eat 3 times a week
Choosing to have freedom to work less over that new car with the big payment
Choosing to stay at home with your children over the big screen TV and surround system
Choosing to retire early and travel over that bass boat or Jet Ski

Change the choices until you find the one that helps you save and spend your money wisely.

Relationships: (New one)

Choices:
Attractive or Treat your kids right
Attractive or Treat you right
Attractive or Be a good provider
Attractive or Neat and Clean
Attractive or Has a vision for the future

You can substitute attractive with any other quality you like: Makes you laugh, has lots of money, is fun to be with, have a lot in common.

If you do go through this process, you will eventually find someone that has all the qualities that will make your choice the right one and keep you from making the wrong painful one.

Relationships: (Existing)
When things are great, we don't need to change things, however when things get rough the choices the average couple is faced with are: Stay and work it out or leave, get mad and argue, sleep on the couch or in the bed, talk it out or give them the silent treatment.

How about changing the choices to?
Stay and work it out or allow your kids to grow up with an absentee parent
Stay and work it out or allow someone else to take your place and work it out
Stay and work it out or leave and still send them half your money
Stay and work it out or leave and be all alone
Stay and work it out or become a part of that failed marriage statistic
Stay and work it out or have regrets the rest of your life

Switch them around:
Get some counseling or ___________________
Lay down the pride or _____________________
Admit your weakness or ___________________

How about these?

You can;
Be right or be loved
Look at their weakness or wrong thing they have done or look at their heart
Pray for God to change them or change you.
Point out their weaknesses or work on strengthening your own
No matter what you are going through in your relationship, you can go through this process until you find a good enough reason to make it work. There may be a hundred reasons why you should walk away, thousands find them every day. The ones that look until they find the right choice are the ones that keep their vows, work things out and are in the end, glad they did.

My wife and I are married 24 years and I am sure if we looked hard enough we would find plenty of reasons we should have left each other. Instead, we look at all the reasons we should stay together and choose from them.