This Morning 7/1/12 One Right Thing

We always know the right thing to do.  Sometimes it takes a bit of deliberation to come to know the way to proceed to that right thing, but ultimately, we have a little voice or sense inside us which gives clear conscience about it.

I say "we," but I really mean those of us who want to always do the next right thing.  Not everyone feels that way.  To be fair, this phrase, "the next right thing," comes from the literature of Alcoholics Anonymous and its affiliates.  It is a helpful concept to frame each decision within the context of whether it is the next right thing to do.  It cuts through the personalizing and reactive retribution which can accompany our responses to people or events having an effect upon us.  Anytime, though, where life is framed in black or white principles, a red flag goes up for me.

Perhaps there are many paths which can be called the right thing to do.  Perhaps we can ask ourselves, "What would be one right thing to do?"   We have choices spinning our heads at an accelerated pace and if we can pare those down into categories of those that help and those that harm, we can give voice to the options which come close to bringing us near something that looks like the right thing to do.


Often our choices make sense to us at the time we make them, but then upon hindsight, seem seated in the absolute most delusional decision-making!  It is a risk we take with all of our choices.  Our sense of ourselves and what is best for us and others changes as we change.  My choices in marriage were seemingly correct for me at that time, but when I view them from 20 years hence, I now would have changed a few things.  At that time, I believe I knew I would ultimately feel this way.  

Doubt and questioning of our decisions is there for a reason.  It is part of that little inner voice or sense which brings conscience and consciousness to our awareness.  It is part of our instinct leaning us toward the right thing to do.

Where we all would like fairy tale romances, Hollywood success stories, and families who get along like the Brady Bunch, any of those idealized scenarios are just not in the cards for most of us.  What we do have is the means to make choices which bring conscience and consciousness to the forefront.

We have the ability to ask ourselves before we react or respond:

"What would be one right thing to do?"