SOOOOO BIG

I remember a game I used to play as a toddler, when someone in my family and my relatives would ask the question How Big?  The automatic response I gave, was to throw my arms up in the air, in a state of joy, and everyone around me would shout sooooo big!  Little did I know, that particular “how big” question and its implications for life would reappear over and over again throughout my lifetime, but in a wider and expanded variety of contexts. And over time as both my age and understanding  expanded, sooooo big has taken on a completely new set of meanings.

Sooooo big as it relates to the idea of choice feels very different now. The word choice is confusing. On one hand it seems restricted and empty, with too many variables in the mix to understand its real potential or implications. The word itself seems  to reduce humanity and our human behavior to something smaller and easier to accomplish than it is.  On the other hand the media, advertising and consumer world, in its quest for profit, continually promotes the idea of unlimited choices, while failing to  address the fact that less can often be more when it comes to our personal well being.

Choice-Fullness is a very different idea. It involves three distinct and integral elements, awareness, ability and control. This approach to choice begins to tackle the integral elements that are the true subcomponents of choosing. Choice-Fullness feels soooo big, because it matches today’s new reality and encompasses the true dimensions of what it takes to become a “good chooser” in today’s new world of NOISE. Choice-Fullness includes both the “mystery” of life and the “big picture” of who we truly are, but often fail to recognize or experience, when we’re  immersed in the accelerating NOISE of the tech, media and consumer driven world that surrounds us.

For our future well being, it’s critical now more than ever, to realize that we’re an amalgam of three different but integral parts , each playing a significant role in our lives, to help us manage our our increasingly complex interactions with our outer world.  Our behavior consists of  integrated biological , psychological  and  socio-cultural elements, that are either aligned or misaligned, as a result of our Choice-Fullness.  When we view the concept of choice through a limited and narrow lens, we can only operate on a more restricted and  subconscious level, without truly understanding our blindspots and the myriad of factors that “hijack” us on a daily basis.

The great news is, that there is an entire “world” of Choice-Fullness inside of us to discover. We are sooooo big that we can unfold this world over our lifetime and still have more room for our full potential.  Our personal wisdom and the wisdom of society depends on a Choice-Full commitment.  And as the “noisy” drums in our Circles Of Influence beat louder and faster, it will always be our Choice-Fullness that remains at stake, and with it, our future.

This unfolding series of blog posts will tackle the critical questions related to the “new” NOISE.  What’s really going on? What does the research show? How can we prepare and protect our choice making skills?

Stayed tuned to learn how to LIVE ABOVE THE NOISE.

Rob Reiher,  Ph.D.