CHOICE

The Power of Choice

Conventional wisdom and decades of psychological research have linked choice to various
blessings. Providing one with the ability to choose increases an individual’s sense of personal control
and feelings of intrinsic motivation.
This personal control and intrinsic motivation, in turn, have been associated with numerous
physical and psychological benefits. Yes, indeed, choices have powerful motivating consequences.
Conversely, the absence of choice and control has a variety of detrimental effects on intrinsic
motivation, life satisfaction, and one’s wellbeing.6-7
The benefits of exercising choice and control are well illustrated by a study with elderly
people in a nursing home. Researchers divided the nursing home by floors. On the first floor, the
residents received extra control of their lives, and extra choices. One day, the director gave a speech
to the residents: “I’d like you to know about all the things that you can do for yourself here at Shady
Grove. There are omelets and scrambled eggs for breakfast, but you have to choose which you want
the night before. There are movies on Wednesday or Thursday night, but you must sign up in
advance before going. Here are some plants; pick one out and take it to your room, but you have to
water it yourself.” The director then told the residents on the second floor: “I want you to know
about what we can do for you here at Shady Grove. There are omelets or scrambled eggs for
breakfast. We make omelets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and scrambled eggs on the other
days. There are movies on Wednesday and Thursday night. Thursday nights, residents from the left
quarter go, and on Wednesday nights residents from the right quarter go. Here are some plants for
your rooms. The nurse will choose one for you and take care of it.” Thus, folks on both floors had the
same things, only those on the first had choice and control while those on the second had neither.
The researchers found that those with choice and control, as opposed to those in the “no-control”
group, thrived in most every way. They also found that fewer of this group had died 18 months later
than in the control group.8-10 This amazing fact strongly indicated that choice and control could save
lives.
Yes, the powers of choice can be stronger and deeper than we often realize.

Knowledge Is Your Tool

An important power tool in making good choices is knowledge. Seeking, gaining, and applying
knowledge should be a way of life. We cannot responsibly go through this life intellectually idle.
We should always be learning something new, always increasing our store of knowledge.
Read, listen to audio books, watch informative programs, use the internet wisely; find ways
that appeal to you and fit into your lifestyle that can help you grow intellectually. As a result of this
growth, you will ideally be better equipped to make wise choices that bless us with abundant life,
purpose, peace and joy.

“A wise man is strong; and a man of knowledge makes strength greater.”

- Proverbs 24:5
Reasoning Powers
A very important tool is the use of reason. We can’t always have all the information we
would want about any particular situation; nor can we know all there is to know about everything.
Thus, we must also exercise reason. We can use what we do know about the situation and apply the
principles that we live by, the rules we have to keep, the laws that we are bound by, and good old
common sense. These can help us make good choices.
We can use deductive or inductive reasoning to develop various rationales that, in turn, can
help to guide our decision making. Just as we need to always increase our knowledge, we also need
to constantly work on improving our reasoning abilities. Take a class on logic, philosophy, debate, or
classical reasoning. Meet regularly with a group of friends and engage in stimulating and constructive
debate, discussions, and conversations. Practice reasoning with yourself about different things
throughout the day. The more we practice these critical thinking skills, the better we will become at
making good choices, even when we have relatively little information available to us.
Sometimes we make poor choices because we think that we have no choice. When we find
ourselves in a very difficult situation, it is easy to think we have very limited choices, or no choices at
all. This is because stress can impair our thinking ability. All too often, when we perceive ourselves in
a situation where we have no control, we feel helpless.
Scientists have demonstrated that animals can develop what is called “learned helplessness”
in response to persistent adversity. Martin P. Seligman demonstrated this in a series of experiments
with dogs. The dogs were placed in pens where they could not escape from periodic electrical shocks
delivered via the floor. Initially the dogs tried to escape when shocked. After repeated shocks, and
having learned there was no escaping them, the dogs quit trying to escape. They simply endured.
Seligman then removed the barrier; the dogs now had an escape. Yet, amazingly enough – when
shocked, they still did not try to escape! Having learned that they were helpless, the dogs remained
helpless – even after their circumstances had changed.11-12 These dogs’ locus of control had shifted
from being internal to being entirely external. They had “learned” that their external environment,
and not their own decisions or behavior, determined their fate.
Don’t let this happen to you. Resolve to always exercise your powers of choice, no matter
how persistent the adversity. This determination will undoubtedly improve your Circumstances, no
matter how dire. An internal locus of control has been associated with many benefits such as an
increased ability to stop smoking13, lose weight14, stick to a medical regimen15 and attain higher
academic achievement.16

Balancing Acts
Making healthy choices means choosing the good things in a balanced moderate way, and
avoiding what’s harmful. Healthy choices help balance our life. Think of how a radio equalizer works.
As we use the equalizer to balance the highs and lows of music, so we can use the power of our
choices to avoid extremes.
Making good choices requires a balanced approach in all that we do. Even a good thing can
be overdone. If a person exercises so much that they don’t have time to spend with their family and
friends, then the exercise has become out of balance and can cause problems in other areas. You can
have too much of a good thing. And if we choose to include good things in our lives but fail to
eliminate the negative things, we are also doing ourselves a disservice. For example, the benefits to
our cardio-respiratory system when we eat oatmeal for breakfast may be minimized or eliminated if
we also eat a lot of high cholesterol foods at the same meal.
When we make healthy lifestyle choices, we will make a difference in how we feel today, and
improve our long-term health and wellness. Eating oatmeal and reducing the amount of cholesterol
and saturated fat in our diet will not only help us feel more energetic and healthy today, it helps
reduce the strain on our cardio-respiratory system, and adds rewarding days to our lives.

Phineas and the Frontal Lobe

The importance and power of the frontal lobe in the decision-making process cannot be
underestimated. This is dramatically illustrated in the tragic story of Phineas Gage, a railroad
foreman. Phineas was working with a tapping iron when the powder underneath exploded, launching
the tapping iron through Phineas’ head. The iron entered first below his left cheek-bone and then
exited through the top of his skull, landing 25 to 30 yards behind him.
Before the accident, Phineas was known for his high morals and exemplary record as a
railroad foreman; after the accident, his moral decline was immediately evident. He became overly
emotional and overtly angry. Phineas lost interest in spiritual things, constantly used profanity and
lost respect for social norms and customs.
Dr. John Harlow, his physician, stated that the accident destroyed Phineas’ “equilibrium or
balance, so to speak, between his intellectual faculty and his animal propensities.” Phineas’ traumatic
frontal lobotomy cost him his personality, his moral standards, and his commitment to family, church
and loved ones.17-19
The frontal lobe helps set humans apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. It is this gift
that gives us the ability to choose. It is, in many ways, the power center. It is the seat of our
will/choice and it is also the seat of our judgment, reasoning, social norms, long-term planning,20-23 all
of which help us make healthy, life giving choices.
The story of Phineas Gage shows how a compromised frontal lobe can change personality.
These changes may be minimal at first but, accumulated over time, they can become a significant
life-changing factor.
Can you see how these effects can be devastating to your happiness? Deterioration of the
frontal lobe can negatively affect you emotionally, socially, financially, spiritually and in every other
facet of life.

Causes and Effects of Frontal Lobe Dysfunction

Let’s look at causes of dysfunction of the frontal lobe. The most common ones stem from
lifestyle habits. Daily activities such as eating, exercising, and experiencing media affect the frontal
lobe.
In fact, everything we do or don’t do – that is, everything we choose affects us either
positively or negatively. Nothing is neutral in our choices. To help ensure the health of your frontal
lobe, avoid input that is excessively numbing.
This input can come from many sources: media, the Internet, TV and radio. A lot of dietary
fat or large amounts of sugar, as well as alcohol, can inhibit normal, healthy blood flow and have
other deteriorating effects on the frontal lobe. Caffeine impinges on the brain’s communication
system in a number of ways. Many illicit and even legal drugs can be very detrimental to frontal lobe
function.
Also, beware of hypnosis. It has many negative effects. A hypnotized person loses thought
activity (weak beta brain waves), has a short circuited frontal lobe, decreased reasoning power,
increased depressive tendencies, and has placed his or her mind under the control of the hypnotist.
In short, by wisely choosing what you eat, drink, hear, or see, you can provide good input for
your frontal lobe.

The Common Effects of a Compromised Frontal Lobe

 Impairment of moral principle

 Social impairment (loss of love for family)
 Lack of foresight
 Inability to do abstract reasoning
 Inability to interpret Proverbs
 Diminished ability for mathematical understanding
 Loss of empathy
 Lack of restraint (boasting, hostility, aggressiveness.)
 Depression

Choose Life
Take this opportunity to choose a new beginning. Think about an area of your life you would
like to improve. Today, choose to make an improvement.
In John 10:10, Christ says, “I have come that you may have life!” The Greek word for “life” in
this passage is ZOË, which is understood to mean, “life as God has it.” Take a moment and consider
the life you now have, and compare it with ZOË – God’s life, a life that He longs to share with you.
Wherever you are today, you’re one choice away from a new beginning, a new you, a new
creation, through the power of the Creator. Dwell on the thoughts below. They encapsulate so much
that could be beneficial to you and the life God wants for you.

Scientific Support For Choice

When we make choices, we are taking responsibility and exerting a degree of control over
our own lives. Yale University researchers found that when people have a choice in their medical
treatment they respond better to it. At the time of the study, two approaches were commonly used
to treat ulcers, and the doctor usually decided whether “medication” or a “restricted diet” would be
best.
Doctors Rodin and Langer used a different approach. They allowed the patients to be a part
of the decision-making process. They described each treatment option along with the pros and cons.
Then the patients decided which they wanted. Regardless of whether they selected medication or a
diet-based treatment, those who had a choice always did better than those who did what they did
simply because the doctor ordered it.
Making choices is the process of taking responsibility and exerting a degree of control over
our own lives. This is a major determinant in how disease progresses. Scientists have shown that
even laboratory animals respond differently depending upon whether or not they are able to control
their circumstances. When exposed to adversity, animals that are able to make a choice to stop the
stress, are far less likely to suffer from disease compared with helpless animals. The same is true of
people. Althought circumstances may sometimes leave very little in your control, you can always
choose your attitude, focus and response.
For example, drugs that are used to manage chronic pain can be addictive. For that reason,
physicians carefully control and monitor their usage. However, researchers discovered that patients
grew anxious about whether medication would be available when needed, which, believe it or not,
intensified the pain for some of them. In a controversial decision, some hospitals allowed patients to
administer their own pain medication whenever needed. Instead of using more, as expected, the
patients actually used less. Nothing new had been done to alleviate their pain, but now they no
longer worried about whether the nurse would hear their request or whether the drug would be
made available. Just having the choice was enough to make the pain more tolerable

Choice Gives Human Dignity

Choice is a precious gift and our greatest asset.
Holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl wrote, “The last of human freedoms [is] . . . to choose
one’s own way.” Though he and his fellow prisoners could not control their environment, they could
control their reactions and Frankl observed that this choice often made the difference between
survival and death, hopelessness and persecution.
Our ability to make decisions is one of the most important gifts that we have. Ever notice
how hopeless people feel when they don’t have a choice? They feel like victims -- that there is no
point in trying to change their situation. Understanding that you have a choice and that you always
will have, regardless of the circumstances, is a highly empowering belief. Therapists and counselors
work hard to help clients see this truth; it’s foundational to recovery. How important are the choices
we make?
Some choices, such as what color to wear to work, have no lasting consequences (unless your
boss routinely fires people for wearing mauve).
However, other decisions cause results that we have to live with for the rest of our lives.
Studies show that many of the conditions we’re dying from today—heart disease, hypertension,
obesity, diabetes, and certain cancers— are the direct result of lifestyle choices. In many cases, these
diseases are cases of overeating and under-activity. Many of these diseases—perhaps as high as 80
to 90 percent of them—could be eliminated with healthier lifestyle choices.
When it comes to our physical health, our decisions do make a difference.

Choice is a Gift From God

God gave us the freedom to choose from the very beginning despite knowing that we do not
always make the best choices.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had a wealth of healthy options from which to choose:
nourishing fruits and vegetables, physical activity to strengthen their bodies, and a relationship with
the Creator to feed their souls.
 But God gave them another choice, too. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the
Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free
to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die'” (Genesis 2:15-17).
That tree somehow represented all of the unhealthy choices that Adam and Eve could make,
all of the decisions that could hurt them physically, spiritually, socially, and emotionally. Making this
one choice—to eat from that tree—would result in a life that would be far less than what God
wanted for them. And in the end, the consequence would be twofold: physical death (a short-term
consequence) and separation from God (a very long-term consequence).
God didn’t hide this choice from the first humans nor did he pretend that it didn’t exist.
Instead, he lovingly created them as free moral agents with the ability to choose to follow his plan or
choose to follow their own way. If you’re a parent, then you know that the highest form of love you
can have for your children, especially as they grow older, is to give them the freedom to choose their
own way. It’s the toughest thing a parent does, allowing their child to choose wisely or poorly, but it
is absolutely necessary to protect the dignity of their lives.
Choice is at the very heart of God’s wonderful plan for our health both in this world and in
the one to come.

Good Choices Good Information

Managing your health is a challenge that is determined by your daily choices.
The Health Institute in Washington, D.C. affirms that behavioral change is related to a
person’s view of risk, benefit, and opportunity. Will Schutz, Ph.D., in his book Profound Simplicity,
states that to make lasting decisions, you must become more aware of your options and their
consequences. Be honest and ask yourself:

 Do I really want to change?

 Why is this change so important to me now?
 Do I understand the benefits of healthy choices?
 Do I recognize the risks of not making those choices?

An important factor in making wise decisions is good information. The more you read and
understand about your health, the more likely your willingness to change.
Sometimes knowledge is not enough, nor is sheer willpower. How often have you made New
Year’s resolutions that fizzle and die within weeks? David Katz, M.D., M.P.H., of Yale School of
Medicine, states that there has to be “a reasonable way as well.” In other words, if the difficulty in
making any changes outweighs your motivation, you will not alter your behavior. (We’ve all heard
stories about people not using their health club memberships because the gym is all the way across
town.)
Choice is the foundation of a balanced, healthy life. The other seven CREATION Health
principles work only when we fully embrace our gift of choice and use it in cooperation with God’s
guidance.
 Right now you can start taking positive steps to turn your life around physically, spiritually,
socially, and emotionally and begin enjoying the life for which God created you. Embark upon a
journey that will take you to a better place than you have ever imagined.

Success Steps
Here are four practical steps to ensure your Choice success:

Choose. The first step to living a healthy, balanced life is to identify what you want and then
decide to go after it. Unless you’re in the top 10 percent of the most disciplined people on the planet,
this will be an everyday choice, a commitment to live a balanced, healthy existence.
"No life grows great until it is focused, dedicated and diciplined. – Henry Fosdick"

Notice. After making your choices and decisions, take a look and notice how balanced your
life is. Are certain areas keeping you from enjoying full health? Which ones can you bring into
balance immediately? Which ones might be better for “long-term goals?”

Prioritize. After evaluating any out-of-balance areas choose your priorities. It would be
wonderful if everything could be fixed at once, but it doesn’t quite work that way. Choose one area
(no more than two) for your attention. If you are out of balance in the area of rest, what can you do
to increase your rest time? If your top priority is more activity, are you willing to get up early and
take a walk? Healthy changes require conscious effort, so keep them simple and realistic. This
removes barriers and sets you up for success.

Act. Once you've set your goals and priorities, it’s time for taking action! Again, don’t tackle
everything in one afternoon. Instead, choose realistic small-step goals you can accomplish today.
For instance, if your goal is to eat more healthfully, a goal of “never eating chocolate cake again”
probably will not work. But choosing cake only once a week may be an ideal step on the road to
nutritional success. Keep your goals simple and doable, and you will set yourself up for long-term
success.
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