I was thinking this morning about how many people I know are in the process of making big plans.

I know several couples that are planning to start a family, several young people that are making plans to begin life away from what they now call home, and sadly, people who have lost loved ones and are beginning the process of making a different kind of life, a life without the ones who left this world too soon for anyone to be comfortable with their departure.

I know people planning for new careers, and I know people planning to take vacations.

Some of my friends are making plans to build a new home, and others are making plans to move to a new city.

I know several people who have recently turned 50, and have received mail from funeral homes, encouraging them to make the plans that none of us like to discuss.

Personally, I am planning a trip to visit a few people who I love very much and honestly nothing excites me more than traveling and spending time with people I adore.

And although I am sure most of us have made similar plans before or will in the future, the plans I want to address in this post are seemingly much smaller and much less intentional, and I believe that they affect our life in a way that is very dramatic—the plans to react or to respond to a given outcome.

Have you ever made a statement that sounded like this:  “If this deal doesn’t come through I’m going to be really upset.”  “If she doesn’t get here on time, I’m going to be really ticked off.”  “It better not rain today and ruin my plans, if it does I’m going to be so sad.”  “If the kids haven’t done their chores I’m going to be angry.”

How advantageous is it to our emotional life to make these kind of plans?

What would be a better choice?

We can absolutely choose our response to any given situation or outcome, so why would we choose ahead of time to be mad, or upset, or sad?

We live in a culture that insists on judging every single event as either good or bad, right or wrong, and then ascribing a corresponding emotion.

How would it affect our entire life if we could let go of judging everything in a way that leads to a less than desirable response?

What better thoughts could we choose if we allowed our self to consider the possible choices and then plan a better response, one that resonates at a higher energy level than anger or sadness?

Here’s to making the best plans,

Cindie