Karen Okulicz - Decide! How to Make Any Decision

Copyright 2002 by Karen Okulicz

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief reviews, without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by K-Slaw, Inc

P.O. Box 375

Belmar, New Jersey 07719

(888) 529-6090

Library of Congress Control Number: 2001117696
eISBN: 978-0-9644260-5-4

To my niece and nephew

Claudia Katherine Okulicz

Christian Gabriel Okulicz

Dont look in any one elses garden but your own.

Olga Schwenka Prostoff

Grandma

Decide! offers simple ways to get to a decision quickly and painlessly, eliminating unnecessary pondering and agonizing. You will learn techniques that will assist you in making a decision: movement, listing, asking, visualizing, recognizing the timing of things and being kind to yourself.

Please enjoy this book as I enjoyed the process of explaining some tangible and intangible concepts on how to make a decision.

To make our own best decisions, I am sure we agree we must have a clear mind. Right? Not a mind that is muddled and confused.

One of the best ways to have clear thinking is to exercise. (No screaming please! Dont throw the book. We have just begun.) I will mention other ways in a while, but the quickest way for clarity is to get the body moving. What does that have to do with the mind? If you havent heard, the body and mind are connected. Not only are they housed in the same person, they work together moment to moment. Its simple: the good you do for your body affects your mind and vice versa.

Now that I have said the dreaded word...exercise, let me further explain. I am in no way saying go run marathons, or join an expensive gym with fancy gear. That is up to you. In fact, I am grateful today that exercise-wear is a very large T-shirt over a pair of leggings or shorts. The retirement of the mandatory leotard to me is a great advancement in society.

What I am saying is do something physical. Walk, run if you must, bike, swim, garden or yoga. Do something that keeps you moving. We are all so different, one type of movement may not fit the personality of another.

Of course, when starting anything new in regards to exercise, if you have a medical condition, check with your doctor for a medical clearance. All others, off the couch.

It is a struggle to begin. It is very easy to make excuses not to move. Its too hot, its rainy, too sunny, too windy or too cold. Hard to start and to maintain. But once you begin, like any habit, it becomes you. You get hooked. Hooked on the sport or exercise itself. Hooked on the benefits of the outcome that movement provides.

The outcome and the benefits far outweigh the excuses for not doing anything. To name a few benefits, other than clearing the mind...movement:

* alleviates stress

* assists with digestion

* conquers depression

* promotes confidence

* helps you sleep soundly

* strengthens the heart

* takes and keeps weight off

* decreases the chances of osteoporosis

* increases the better cholesterol (HDL) and decreases the bad cholesterol (LDL), and will absolutely give you more energy. Exercise will improve your breathing, your posture, and your skin tone. It will release those wonderful natural chemicals (endorphins) that make you feel so great. Enough said.

Another great thing that scientists have found is that you dont have to do your daily exercise in one session. The movement you do throughout the day is accumulative. So park that car away from your office building or grocery store, and walk in. Exercise will not guarantee a longer life, but you look and feel better while you are alive. Also, if you were to get sick, the activity of exercise will be an added benefit to a healing recovery. Like having health credits in the bank.

I love the saying I get my ideas in the shower. I do. Mostly, its a shower right after doing a bit of something physical. Ideas just flow.

The mind has been relaxed to get some clear thoughts and creativity through the muck of the daily grind. The muck that layers up as you go through the day. The muck of the should-haves, could-haves, forgot-tos and maybe get-tos.

Being in the process of exercise also clears your mind. Lets say its an outside walk. If by the beach, walking gives you the physical benefits and also the mental image of looking outside yourself. You cant help to. You see the birds, smell the salt air, see the sun glistening on the water. If you walk in a city you see the architecture of the buildings, window-shop as you pass stores, people-watch, smell the air for whatever it may bring you: a hot dog stand scent, the smell of the sun hitting concrete. If you walk in a neighborhood you look at homes and upkeep. Dont we? The observations of your terrain assist in clearing your mind.

The process of going to exercise and doing exercise can alter your mood. If you go to a gym and take classes, you know you are different after the class. Exercise almost tricks you into feeling better. You cant help but feel better. Plus, there is a socialization with exercise. You get out and intermingle with people. Even solo walking, the daily nod hello to another walker somehow is a comfort when all seems to be in chaos.

Exercise is something we can control. Very few things in life we have control over. We can set up a routine and make it a habit. We can also control the type, time and amount of movement.

How much or how little should you do? Well, by the time this book comes out, there will be one more study that will say a certain amount of exercise is beneficial, and how many times a week. This control is up to you. For the beginner, it is maybe as little as a mindful ten minutes of something new, that grows into a life-long lifestyle addition. For those of you who do exercise, and then dontyou know who you arejust get back to whatever it was you were doing, or try something new.

So grab the umbrella, its raining and time for a walk.

Walk finished. Now we have a clear mind. Simple as that. Dont I wish all things were that easy? Read it, its done. No practice, no stumbles. Never having to be patient. Never having to wade through the volumes of daily input we receive via mail, phones, faxes, other people, e-mails, newspapers, TV and radio, to find ourselves. Not the way it is in this lifetime. Sorry.

The next step is write it out, to right it out. What does that mean? Write it down. Make a list or write in a journal. Put it in black and white, or red crayon if you must. Look at yourself in the reflection of your writing. You are there. The most honest you is present. The private you comes forward, the you who is always right.

Keeping lists, or a journal, is a way to focus our thoughts. It can validate a view of life the way we want it to be, and list the ways we will achieve that wanting. It is a great source of control during stressful times. It keeps us on track, it keeps us centered. We can see our progress of where we are going, and where we have been. This process of writing it out assists in going forward one more step. As we all know, some days are a step at a time, and other days we merrily skip along.