The Possibilities of Choice

I’ve come to realise that I care about contextualising what’s written because I often find that ideas read out of context lose some of their impact and insights.

So. It’s 8pm on a weekday in early August. Recently, I have had to make important decisions on a wide range of subjects. A few hours ago I hung up the phone after listening to a childhood friend going through a difficult time and who needed to talk and to cry. Not for the first time during our conversations, I invited her to reflect on the possibilities of the choices available to her. It’s now quieter; there is a bit of traffic noise in the far distance and the birds are still singing while the sun is slowly fading, making room for the moon which is almost full. We are in the peak of summer, most kids are on holiday and a fair number of parents and families are too. Life has a different rhythm, even for those who aren’t having time off and who don’t have children. The pace isn’t necessarily slower but there is a noticeable shift in the air and as I sat down at my desk, I decided to write about our possibilities of choice.

But first let me back track. I have a soft spot for numerology and particularly for a French lady called Lydie Castells who consistently publishes videos explaining the numerology of each month and the energies at play. It’s always informative, clear and succinct. In a nutshell, we are collectively in a year 9 for 2025, July was a month 7 and August is a month 8. Lately I noticed a constancy in her message depicting the flavour of the moment. Since July, she has insisted that we take our time before making big decisions, to not force, to check and be conscientious before acting, to be anticipative and to take care of our positioning so that we stand in our legitimacy and self-respect. This isn’t exactly light and fluffy the way we would love it to be at this time of the year, however, and I don’t know for you, but for me, this is indisputably on point.

In essence, holiday season or not, life does what life does and presents us with situations that demand choices, which themselves are spread out on a giant spectrum from totally innocuous to life altering.

Unsurprisingly, sometimes these situations are such that we might not feel well resourced to deal with them or simply that we feel we don’t have any choices in the matter. And that’s usually because we can’t see what these choices could be in the present moment. We might be stuck in a tunnel view, hyper focused on the ‘thing’ itself, overwhelmed by emotional charge or avoiding it altogether hoping it goes away.

That’s when slowing down, stepping back, distancing ourselves is critical to allow us to create a list of possibilities (and consequences I might add). It’s a simple way to discover what our choices might be. So from such a list of possibilities, a final meaningful choice can be made.

Have you ever noticed that when something troublesome happens, we tend to think: “now is really not a good time / now is the worst time for this to take place”. If it’s of any comfort, this is true for everybody. And though, from a perception standpoint, time might flow differently in Summer; our busy, connected and digital lives are such that, even with willingness, it’s getting harder to fit in time for things we didn’t plan on or don’t want to deal with. It’s also more difficult and requires additional effort and discipline to foster blank spaces of quiet, for reflection, for contemplation, for doing nothing but being with ourselves, our thoughts, and our choice processes.

So I’d like to emphasise that we need to take this silent time for all these non-performative activities to be able to gain clarity over what we want or need to do that’s going to be best for us and most meaningful.

Because the more choices we see in a situation, the more meaning becomes available to us. Then we can decide on the path forward consciously and make the decision that most aligns with our values. Over time, this teaches us to take responsibility with greater ease in areas where we have choices and the gift is that it makes life more meaningful. Something that we all aim for.

So whilst you enjoy these glorious summery weeks we still have ahead of us, don’t lose sight of your choices and of all the possibilities available to you. Try not to rush or overreact, take your time and embrace the meaningfulness you’ll find in making authentic and value aligned decisions.

Main – Photo by Pixabay