THE ROCKING CHAIR TEST

Fruits plastic wrapped for protection - “If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies... It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it.”

How are you at making decisions?

Years ago, a city family bought a cattle ranch and moved to the wide-open country. After a month, friends visited the family in their ranch house. "What did you decide to name your ranch?" they inquired.

"Well," the husband replied, "I wanted to call it the Flying W and my wife wanted to name it the Suzy Q, but one of our sons liked the Bar J and the other preferred the Lazy Y. So we compromised and call it the Flying W/Suzy Q/Bar J/Lazy Y."

"I see," said the visitor. "And where are your cattle?"

"None of them survived the branding!" said the rancher.

You, no doubt, make better decisions than that. But what do you do when you have a particularly tough decision to make? What do you do when your options are not at all clear?

When faced with a difficult decision, one man relies on what he calls the "rocking chair test." He imagines himself as an old man, nearing the end of his life. As he sits and rocks on his porch and
contemplates his life, he asks himself if this decision will have any meaning to him. Will he be proud or ashamed of his decision? How will this decision have affected the course of his life?

The "rocking chair test" helps him take a long view of his options. If any decision passes the test, then he knows that it was a good choice.

What decisions are you presently struggling with? Take the "rocking chair test" today and make a better decision for tomorrow.

From Lifesupport.