Are Your Choices Really Yours ?

This evening, after being away from my loved ones all week for a business trip, I watched a movie titled "The Adjustment Bureau" with my wife and two oldest sons.  It has two prominent stars in the roles of main characters but I could not recall hearing anything about it when it came out 5 years ago.

I really enjoyed this movie!

The basic premise, without really spoiling anything, is that there exists a group of people (not human, not angels) who influence our lives and fate by adjusting our rationality as related to decision-making.  This helps keep us on track to play our part in the master plan.
The main male character in the film finds out about this group and is then faced with a dilemma: trust in the path that leads him to some impressive personal glory OR go against that plan and follow his heart - or in other words, make his own choices without being influenced by these adjusters.

For me, this movie allowed for reflection on how I am making the choices in my life.  What thoughts or perceptions or beliefs influence my decisions?  What are my motives?  What truly is my end goal? What am I willing to sacrifice to achieve what I want?  And, what are truly the most important aspects of my existence?

If you're in the mood for an action-packed (with a cute love story for the ladies) but thought-provoking film, I would recommend The Adjustment Bureau.  We found it in the $5 bin at Wal-Mart but it might even be on Netflix or available elsewhere.


Song Of The Day:
The other great thing about this film is that it gives a perfect blog topic for me to feature a song I've enjoyed since I first heard it: "Budapest" by George Ezra.  The title is misleading unless you know the lyrics of the song, where the singer indicates he would give up his house in Budapest for the love of his life.  Most people who've heard the song focus on the chorus lyrics For you-oo I'd leave it all.  The tie in to today's post is fairly obvious - and once you watch the movie you'll appreciate the tune even more.

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Are You Happy ?

One of my responsibilities at work is to prepare an agenda for and facilitate over a monthly meeting for my team.  Most of the time I enjoy putting together these meetings even though the agenda is often dictated to me by outside influences (new systems or procedures to roll out, etc.)  On occasion, I find myself in the unique situation where I get to outline an agenda entirely of my own devices.  I relish these opportunities and try to use them to help my team members think more broadly and deeply on any given subject, often related to life and not just limited to something in the work environment.

Today, among other things, I shared portions of an article I came across from LinkedIn.  The article was posted/written by a Jeff Haden (giving credit where credit is due, despite no knowlegde of who this person actually is).  Upon first reading the ideas he outlined, I was taken back and willingly forced into a very introspective mode.  I found myself internally asking questions regarding my level of "happiness."  I was mostly pleased with my answers, as they reaffirmed my belief that I am genuinely happy the majority of the time.  The areas where I am not as happy, are things I can change by choosing the right "trade-offs" to give up.  This took away my feelings of helplessness and gave me a feeling of power over the direction in my life.

We are told to follow after the pursuit of happiness, but this isn't the same thing for all people.  I love this concept.  It removes the need for argument with anyone else over success.  The truth is, YOU determine how successful YOU are.  If that's more money, more time, enough flexibility in work hours to engage in your favorite hobby or activity, a bigger family, stronger relationship with your spouse, or even a clearer spiritual connection with your own 'supreme being' ... it doesn't matter if that makes someone else view you as successful or not.  They are not you.  They do not live with you 24/7.  So stop worrying if they approve.

If you're happy and you know it ... good!  :)

Song Of The Day:
I've already shared the music of Bobby McFerrin in this blog, but his greatest selling popular song will always be "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and that's the perfect message to go along with this post.  Enjoy!

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