In Deep with the Book of Me - Explore. Dream. Discover

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf

The prompt for the month is:    

Explore. Dream. Discover

The Brief:

''Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do, than by the ones you did........ Explore. Dream. Discover.'' - Mark Twain

This prompt is probably a tough one. I don't believe we make wrong decisions, I believe that things that do not turn out as we expect them to present an opportunity for us to learn and develop further. To become stronger and better people.
Do you share that philosophy? Explore the prompt. Cast your mind back to decisions you made and things that you didn't do? Perhaps reflect on family decisions, things from previous generations? 

To make a decision people follow either: impulses, their "gut", ask for facts and then make it, research it to death before making it and sometimes it can be a combination of any of these. I know for myself, it depends on what the decision is and just how big it is.

What do you need to make a decision?

In business, I can make a decision pretty fast as long as I know the basics and what the companies outlook and how decisions are made. In fact, sometimes people look at me and are amazed because usually they were cheaper, quality and enacted with a plan before anyone could really say anything.

In my personal life, well that's a bit more complicated. Most of the time I gather the basic facts and take my experiences and go from there. However, the bigger decisions like getting married took a bit more. Why? Because I wasn't just getting married. I was leaving a country and moving to a new place where there was none of MY family. I couldn't just drive a couple days to see my family - I had to plan it to see them if I wanted to. This one took a bit more time to take a look and a decision. In the end, I had to go with emotion and combine it with facts.

The outcomes have been mediocre at best with the personal stuff. Why? Because there always seems to be outside interference that I just didn't see coming. Believe me, I do build in contingency plans but these were so far out of the box that you just don't see them and they hurt when they do the Gibbs slap (for those of you who watch the NCIS show) and it leaves you stunned.

You can always look back at your decisions, but usually once I take a look at mine and make it, I know I've done the best with what I had and knew at the time. However, I do try and look at things from all sides and not discount anything. This way I know when I look at myself in the mirror, I can look at myself straight in the eye and know I did my best and that's all any of us can really do isn't it?

  Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.    

"The Book of Me, Written by You" - What do you See?

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations.

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf

This is a journey of finding yourself and how your loved ones see you in their eyes. Further, this can be online and carried forward to share, if you wish, to future generations. - See more at: http://joannfitz.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-book-of-me-written-by-you-topic-1.html#sthash.2TuO2bVu.dpuf

The prompt for the week is:    

What do you See?

The Brief:

Public Use Allowed

• Having seen the image what is the thing you thought? Write that down.
• Does what you have written have any resemblance to how you view life?
• Half full or half empty
• Describe how you feel after you have reflected. Does that differ from your immediate thoughts?

Take a look at the picture of the glass and what do you see? A glass? Half full? Half empty? Take a good long look...

I used to dislike these types of questions because there was no one right or wrong answer. It frustrated me. I'd sit there and think about it and see it from angles and try to come up with the one right answer. After years of sitting there and thinking things through - I do tell people do NOT try and get into my brain as its a VERY scary place! - I finally came up with why I was having such a hard time with it.

I can hear you sitting there asking yourself - Well? Why? WHY? Why! Tell me! Because I'm a realist. The glass and water can be anything you want it to and it will change. Sure the glass is - at this point the camera captured it - full or empty a you wish. BUT what happens after this picture was taken... did someone fill it and drink from it? Or did they say we have our picture for the day and empty it? Guess what? It doesn't matter because whatever you were going to do with the glass and water was going to happen whichever decision you were going to make. This includes if you dropped the glass and it shatters - it was going to happen either now or later so it doesn't really matter.

Decision Making - the next step
This being said, I do try and look at all angles/sides which annoys people to no end if they realize I'm doing it. Most people go if I do step A and take a left it will head me into that direction. Others will go to step A and take a right and it will go there and then make a decision. Myself? I go to step A and then try and see what the decisions are from there and then make the next decision and so on until usually I get so confused or its so clear I'm either really comfortable with the decision or really uncomfortable with the decision I have to make that I sit there for a long time. Then its the uncomfortable one people intend to get frustrated with me because I'll just sit there.

I think the fact I used to read books called "Choose Your Own Adventures" which depended upon the decisions you make for the story have something to do with it. I used to sit down with the book, a piece of paper and pencil and list out options for each before making the decision and then make it. At the beginning I usually wasn't in a good spot at the end, but by the time I got finished? I was doing the route A to options are and what would I think do to route B and so on. I sat down and tried to route out the entire journey and I got about 1/4-1/2 of it correct which freaked other kids out. The lesson that was learned was you can map things out but just think out your journey far ahead.

Have All Decisions been good ones?

From Flickr account - All rights reserved by Dilan Lyman 

Of course not! Life had many twists and turns like a river. Some days that river runs fast and other days its almost stopped but overall that river is still moving - just like life and our decisions within it. You just have work with what you've got and try and have fun and lots of laughter while you are doing it.

  Check back for the continuation of "The Book of me, Written by You" series.