I make my own decisions
I read an excellent article the other day on SparkPeople. While I don’t often comment on other people’s writing as the content of a post, I just loved the examples he used to illustrate his point and had to share.
The premise of the article is about decision making and how “it’s usually the feeling of being powerless that really gets those stress hormones flowing. A key to staying in control is using “I” statements.” The article goes on to suggest that you study your decisions over the course of a week, writing down what you did and/or the basis of a decision, and then go back over the language you chose. These are the examples that struck me because I hear them so often, from myself or my family, sometimes friends and colleagues. It is common language to describe an event but he really spells out the truth of what happened vs how you felt. By making it your responsibility, an issue can be resolved with actionable steps that you can take rather than fretting or regretting a decision:
Go back through the words you wrote, changing any passive verbs to active verbs (“My lunches are packed by my husband” becomes “I let my husband pack my lunches”) and replacing any external forces with “I” statements (“It was too cold to walk outside today” becomes “I decided I didn’t want to walk in the cold today”). Once you have done this, go through your problem statement again and see what solutions come to mind. — By Dean Anderson, Behavioral Psychology Expert
I highly recommend reading the article »
