The single best way to create division is to make decisions. The problem people run into is that their decisions are creating division in their own life affecting the matters they value.
I’m sure you have heard the quote, “You can please some of the people all of the time and you can please all of the people some of the time. You just can’t please all of the people all of the time. “
If you fall into the category of trying to please everyone all of the time you risk many health factors coming your way. You risk living life at an unsustainable speed for too long and risk the many consequences of this form of busyness.
Decisions have to be made but there’s a sure fire way to make sure you’re making the right decision. The right decision is one based on enhancing and supporting your personal values. I have talked about this in how to choose the right doctor. If you and your doctor have differing views on why people get sick, you will have differing views on how to get your health better. It won’t be a productive working relationship.
How do you know what you value? There’s a couple ways to figure out what you value.
Assessment #1.
Take 5 minutes with a piece of paper and a pen. Imagine you had a new born baby that you were going to raise until adulthood. At the age of 18, your child is taken away from you and placed as leader of the free world. The only influence on that person’s life up to age 18 was you. His/her leadership is a direct reflection of the values you taught that child.
On the piece of paper, write down every single characteristic you would want your child, now the leader of the world, to exhibit in his/her leadership decisions.
You may pen some characteristics like kindness, patience, honesty, not easily tempered, fair, healthy, humorous, etc. There’s no right or wrong answer.
These are the ideals you value. The more you make decisions that enhance and support those values, the more you are going to cut out the crap of life and shift towards happiness. You have to create division with purpose and sometimes your pursuit of happiness will make others you care about unhappy.
Assessment #2.
This option is more of a gut check for folks. If you want to know what you value in life than look at where your money goes. If you value health than your receipts should favor things that build health.
I spotted a guy at a cafe one day and sitting next to him was a Macbook Pro, an iPad Air, and an iPhone 6+. That dude values technology, especially the ones recently made by Apple. He never once had to verbally tell me he values Apple computers. Me on the other hand, I still have a dumb phone. I use technology enough to get by in life and business.
You have to ask yourself if the things you are spending money on support your ideals? In other words, does Assessment #2 support Assessment #1? If it does, you’re on track for making decisions that create division in your life in a good way, moving you towards health. If #1 and #2 don’t mesh, you’re creating division in your life that will lead to more problems. The greater the division between #1 and #2 is going to be proportionate to the devastation it creates.
Think of #1 as belief and #2 as behavior. Behavior modification is only successful if beliefs are tackled first. Decisions originate with beliefs. Beliefs dictate behaviors.
If the latter is true, that your internal values and spending patterns don’t mesh, you need to make a decision to create division before the non decision creates division in you. It’s only a matter of time before you feel the consequences, if you haven’t already.