Stop. Look. Listen... Think. This is a modified version of what some of us know from school and some others from a song. We heard the original version from parents, teachers or from the radio but applying it to life is more complicated and I'm not talking only about crossing the street but about living those four words in life.
In order to make a good decision we need to stop in the rush of the day and life, look at and listen to people around us and to ourselves, and finally we need to think. We need to take time to ponder on things, to look into ourselves, concentrate, think about pros and cons and to estimate what the choice is going to bring. When we just rush into a decision or into something without assessing the situation beforehand, life will pass without noticing and we’ll regret most of our decisions. Everything will become one big mix with no differences between one day to another as we run through it not having a time.
Once in a while I get that moment when I suddenly realise how many things I HAVE TO do. Instead of sitting and planning them according to their priority, I just start doing them in a rush, usually all at the same time. I feel pressurised, I feel that all of them have to be done, because otherwise the world will end. In reality it'll not and even more, my moment of panic will not bring any positive change, only a mess. If I follow that pattern, in the end I am only frustrated that I didn’t do everything. When, I think before I act, on the other hand, I am much more satisfied even if I complete only part of the assignments. I also feel I paid attention to what I’ve done and I did it properly.
In order to make a good decision we need to stop in the rush of the day and life, look at and listen to people around us and to ourselves, and finally we need to think. We need to take time to ponder on things, to look into ourselves, concentrate, think about pros and cons and to estimate what the choice is going to bring. When we just rush into a decision or into something without assessing the situation beforehand, life will pass without noticing and we’ll regret most of our decisions. Everything will become one big mix with no differences between one day to another as we run through it not having a time.
Once in a while I get that moment when I suddenly realise how many things I HAVE TO do. Instead of sitting and planning them according to their priority, I just start doing them in a rush, usually all at the same time. I feel pressurised, I feel that all of them have to be done, because otherwise the world will end. In reality it'll not and even more, my moment of panic will not bring any positive change, only a mess. If I follow that pattern, in the end I am only frustrated that I didn’t do everything. When, I think before I act, on the other hand, I am much more satisfied even if I complete only part of the assignments. I also feel I paid attention to what I’ve done and I did it properly.
The same is with eating, in my case. Maybe in yours it’ll be something different. Sometimes I feel I HAVE TO eat something (especially something sweet) RIGHT NOW. But it’s only a feeling – in most cases I don’t really need to eat it at that very moment and not even in the next one. Again, if I think before acting I am much more satisfied with my decision.
Those are only examples but "stop, look, listen... and think" applies really to any situation in life - when we talk to someone, when we buy things we may not really need or in any other situation that maybe coming to your mind now.
You may argue that such approach is way too reasonable and strips life of all of it pleasures and robs it of all of its fun. But I’ll say no. It just prevents you from making impulsive decisions which are a result of an advert or someone else's convincing talk. Especially when that someone is trying to persuade us that if we eat that particular chocolate we'll be happy till the rest of our life. We need to think, use our brain and make our own decisions, which we are convinced in our hearts, are right. This kind of thinking just prevents you from doing silly things we later regret and help little and big pleasures to taste much better and for longer.
Those are only examples but "stop, look, listen... and think" applies really to any situation in life - when we talk to someone, when we buy things we may not really need or in any other situation that maybe coming to your mind now.
You may argue that such approach is way too reasonable and strips life of all of it pleasures and robs it of all of its fun. But I’ll say no. It just prevents you from making impulsive decisions which are a result of an advert or someone else's convincing talk. Especially when that someone is trying to persuade us that if we eat that particular chocolate we'll be happy till the rest of our life. We need to think, use our brain and make our own decisions, which we are convinced in our hearts, are right. This kind of thinking just prevents you from doing silly things we later regret and help little and big pleasures to taste much better and for longer.
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