‘The traffic light doesn’t stop you, you do’
I had some training last week and the gentleman who did the training said this at the end. It made me think.
When you read it, what does it do for you? Do you agree? Disagree?
It made me think about all the choices we all have and the various outcomes of the choices.
It is both frustrating and also empowering to realise that what he said was accurate.
The traffic light changes, and your mind knows that it means for you to stop. It is then up to you to choose whether or not to stop. If you choose stop, then the outcomes might be that you know you will be safe, are following the law, will have to wait a while, and many other things. If you choose not to stop, then the outcomes might be being unsafe, having a crash, getting caught by the police, getting somewhere quicker, and many other things.
And that extends wider. We don’t control what happens around us, or to us, but we choose what we do and how we navigate it, although we don’t choose our feelings about it. Be it basic situations like a traffic light changing, or more complex, challenging and painful things like, illness, loss, life situations.
As I mentioned earlier, this can feel incredibly empowering to know that you can choose what you do. However, it can also be incredibly scary and frustrating, at times.
It can be scary to make those choices, to choose to lose weight, or stop smoking, or break up with someone, or go into therapy, or make any kind of change or any kind of choice. It can be frustrating if we want to do something and feel we can’t, or we get other circumstances, outside of us, put on us. It can also be empowering to know that we can control us and what we choose to do.
How empowered do you feel about your choice and your life choices? Are things going ok for you? Or are they not?
Is there something you want to change? If so, what’s stopping you making that choice? Look inside and really be honest about yourself. Is there a fear there? A resistance or reluctant to change it?
And don’t think, for one second, I’m saying it’s as easy as making a choice and then doing it. Or that making a choice to do something means the road will be easy once you start it. Or easy to make any kind of change in our lives.We all know that making changes and making choices, of any level, can be difficult, challenging and scary, as well as empowering.
I’m just saying that, as the initial quote suggests, we have the choice for our actions.
What do you choose to do with that knowledge?
