Have you ever felt the conflict between doing the responsible thing verses doing the thing that might allow you to feel more alive and free?
Maybe you decided not to take that trip, or date that person or try learning that new skill or something else because there was something telling you, you had to be responsible instead.
Have you ever felt like this?
Well what if these two things weren’t actually in conflict with each other? What if you knew there was a way you could always be taking more responsibility and be feeling more alive and free at the same time? Would that be exciting?
We are brought up to focus mainly on choosing between options that already exist; options that have already been created by someone else.
We are taught that we must go to school or we will get in trouble. Go to work or be homeless. Vote for a Republican or a Democrat, and the list goes on and on.
When we focus only on options that have already been created by someone else, we often times come to the point where it feels we are having to choose between two things that we don’t really want. We feel like we loose something with either choice.
When we repeat this pattern that feels like compromise hundreds or thousands of times in our lives, it is easy to start believing that we aren’t that capable of experiencing what we really want. It can be easy to start viewing the world as a not very friendly place where we have very little power.
But what if the opposite were actually true? What if we are infinitely powerful; capable of continually experiencing more and more of what we truly want most? What if we were born with the natural ability to bring exactly what we want into the world, not just settle for something close? What if the very reason we are here in the first place is to do this?
What if we are here to discover the third option?
The third option is the option that gives you more of everything you want in any particular circumstance.
The third option always allows you to be more of yourself and get better results at the same time.
The third option has these three characteristics:
It will feel like the most exciting choice
It will allow you to be more of yourself
It will allow you to get better results than you are getting now
The third option is the option that is always available to you when you don’t immediately choose between two lesser options. The third option appears as a result of you showing up in the world as yourself, refusing to settle, and staying open to discovering it.
Gandhi used the idea of the third option to remove the British empire from India using non violence.
The next time you find yourself deciding between two less than perfect options, try out these steps to discover the third option.
Step 1) Be willing to be here without knowing what to do or how it will turn out
Step 2) Choose to feel how you want to be feeling to the best of your ability (in other words, don’t freak out)
Step 3) Stay open to discovering the third option. Know that it always exists and the right idea will come to you as you stay open to it. You will know you have discovered the third option because it will have the three characteristics listed above.
What if you became the leader of discovering the third options in your life? What if you decided to no longer settle for anything less than you want? What if you instead practiced the skill of discovering the third option anytime you were faced with choosing between two less than perfect choices?
What if you woke up each day knowing that the third option always exists and that your job in this world is to discover and bring into existence those options that only you can bring. How might this start improving your life even starting right now?
-Andy
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