If you have ever built or remodeled a house or know someone who has, you know how difficult the decision process can be. Its not unusual to become wishy-washy, second guess the second guesses, or transcend into the “I don’t care anymore” arena. While walking through my friends beautiful newly built home yesterday, I found her streamlined approach to decision making remarkably simple but thoughtful- “ALL SQUARES”. Recognizing early on that the building process could be tedious and overwhelming, she made the call to only consider anything that was square; ceiling lines, windows, drawer pulls, light fixtures, you name it. As she explained, the intention was to cut the options in half and make the process much more pleasant. Instead of wasting time looking at all the options, she focused on what she wanted. I might add, it made for an incredibly warm, interesting, one of a kind home.
Sankalpa As Intention
The home tour was timely in my though process. Today is New Years Day, and where resolutions can often get complicated and unreal, I thought, what if I could just choose squares. In other words, put the intention in one simple, streamlined thought. I prefer the word intention to resolution as I like to think of it as DOING something as opposed to STOPPING doing something. The sanskrit word for resolution is Sankalpa, meaning “will, purpose or determination”. Sankalpa puts a positive spin on decision making. Choose what we want as opposed to what we don’t want. The sankalpa I had been working toward 2012 is inspired by a speech at the 2008 Oscars delivered by the writers of best picture winner “Slumdog Millionaire”… “All my life I’ve had a choice between hate and love. I choose love.” Like looking at circles, there is no reason to exhaust myself considering hate. Fear doesn’t fit either. Limiting my options to love fits now and in the big picture.
Life is like building a house. We are constantly asked to make decisions. Some decisions are on par with what side of the sink the disposal will go on – they have minimal impact and almost go unnoticed. Others are like blueprints – we look at them for the rest of our lives. Additionally, others may have opinions about what we build, but we are the ones who have to live there. Despite the amount of energy put into building, one of the first things new owners will say when the home is finished is that there are things they should have done differently. Mistakes were made. They may even want a redo. That too, mirrors life. Even if we are meticulous and thoughtful, won’t we all have regrets? But what if we could enjoy the building process? Streamline our options so that even when the tough decisions come, we are able to make a choice from a place of calm and caring.
See Squares and choose Love.
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