The more decisions that you are forced to make alone, the more you are aware of your freedom to choose.
-Thornton Wilder
-Thornton Wilder
Prompted by a conversation with a pregnant woman regarding all of the decisions she faces in preparation for her child's birth, I was curious about the thought process. So, Making Decisions was the topic of my Saturday yoga class.
As usual, I posed a question, we discussed it, and I tried my best to blend the postures and the topic. We tried keeping still in a pose and moving deeper, only after deciding what the movement would be. Too often we move before thinking and let our physical bodies dictate our actions, good or not so good. We also tried to elicit thoughts of joy and happiness regardless of what our physical bodies were doing. Too often we wait to be physically at ease in order to be happy. In that class, we aimed to be pleased, whether we were in challenging one-legged poses or being assisted by a friend in stretching postures. Deciding to be happy and content, was the lesson.
Three hours later, I was standing in line for another exercise: my right to vote. The poll watchers were tired. It was three in the afternoon and you could see the "why did I sign up for this" expression in various forms on every face. As I stood in line, questions came sporadically: "Did you check to see if your name is listed?", "What's your last name? Stand in that line then." (The line that I'd been standing in for the last 3 minutes).
I signed in, a woman slowly tore off a paper ballot for me and then carefully folded and tore a two inch strip off my ballot and handed me my receipt. As I walked to the voting booth, I stuck my driver's license and the receipt into my wallet.
I read the instructions: #1: Select one political party, #2: Vote only for candidates of the party you selected. #3: Remember to vote for the Special Nonpartisan offices. These were followed by names listed next to little rectangles. How do I mark these boxes? Will my left-handed check marks be accepted?
I looked all over the ballot and couldn't find any instructions. I looked around the booth for instructions that might be posted, as they have been in the past. Nada. So I decided that an "X" would be as generic as I could make a mark.
When I got to my car and put my wallet away, I looked at my ballot receipt and saw the bold title: VOTING INSTRUCTIONS with an idiot proof illustration of a hand shading in the rectangle (correct) and a crossed out check mark (right-handed version) and "X" (incorrect). "*!^&", I said. Why wasn't that listed on the ballot? Was it meant to be torn off and handed to me for special emphasis (which it was not)?
I was livid (a more civilized description) as the three lucky people I called will confirm. A few hours later, as I do with every situation that takes me to the State of Livid, I thought about the lesson being offered. No one made me put an X in the box, it was my decision. I could have stepped outside the booth and gone back for clarification. I had choices, I always have choices. Take away my right to choose and then I'd have cause to be livid, in an uncivilized manner too. If I make a poor decision, I still have a choice as to how I want to react!
We experienced it in yoga class that morning: choose to act rather than react; if you have to react, choose how you want to feel about it. This lesson has taught me to turn down the volume on all the political babble that will take place in the next month. I can't expect the mainstream media to hand me my VOTING INSTRUCTIONS. I'll have to look for the candidates and parties who will give me the best choices and then decide and vote. Hopefully, with the right mark this time. Once the process is over, I've decided to feel good about those who are elected. I want to live in a place where I'll always have choices.
As usual, I posed a question, we discussed it, and I tried my best to blend the postures and the topic. We tried keeping still in a pose and moving deeper, only after deciding what the movement would be. Too often we move before thinking and let our physical bodies dictate our actions, good or not so good. We also tried to elicit thoughts of joy and happiness regardless of what our physical bodies were doing. Too often we wait to be physically at ease in order to be happy. In that class, we aimed to be pleased, whether we were in challenging one-legged poses or being assisted by a friend in stretching postures. Deciding to be happy and content, was the lesson.
Three hours later, I was standing in line for another exercise: my right to vote. The poll watchers were tired. It was three in the afternoon and you could see the "why did I sign up for this" expression in various forms on every face. As I stood in line, questions came sporadically: "Did you check to see if your name is listed?", "What's your last name? Stand in that line then." (The line that I'd been standing in for the last 3 minutes).
I signed in, a woman slowly tore off a paper ballot for me and then carefully folded and tore a two inch strip off my ballot and handed me my receipt. As I walked to the voting booth, I stuck my driver's license and the receipt into my wallet.
I read the instructions: #1: Select one political party, #2: Vote only for candidates of the party you selected. #3: Remember to vote for the Special Nonpartisan offices. These were followed by names listed next to little rectangles. How do I mark these boxes? Will my left-handed check marks be accepted?
I looked all over the ballot and couldn't find any instructions. I looked around the booth for instructions that might be posted, as they have been in the past. Nada. So I decided that an "X" would be as generic as I could make a mark.
When I got to my car and put my wallet away, I looked at my ballot receipt and saw the bold title: VOTING INSTRUCTIONS with an idiot proof illustration of a hand shading in the rectangle (correct) and a crossed out check mark (right-handed version) and "X" (incorrect). "*!^&", I said. Why wasn't that listed on the ballot? Was it meant to be torn off and handed to me for special emphasis (which it was not)?
I was livid (a more civilized description) as the three lucky people I called will confirm. A few hours later, as I do with every situation that takes me to the State of Livid, I thought about the lesson being offered. No one made me put an X in the box, it was my decision. I could have stepped outside the booth and gone back for clarification. I had choices, I always have choices. Take away my right to choose and then I'd have cause to be livid, in an uncivilized manner too. If I make a poor decision, I still have a choice as to how I want to react!
We experienced it in yoga class that morning: choose to act rather than react; if you have to react, choose how you want to feel about it. This lesson has taught me to turn down the volume on all the political babble that will take place in the next month. I can't expect the mainstream media to hand me my VOTING INSTRUCTIONS. I'll have to look for the candidates and parties who will give me the best choices and then decide and vote. Hopefully, with the right mark this time. Once the process is over, I've decided to feel good about those who are elected. I want to live in a place where I'll always have choices.
Photo: rcvernor