Free Will Isn’t Free

Free will “will” cost you.

Most of us like to believe we have it. And technically, we do.

It comes with the human software package.

The problem is, we don’t always pay the price required to actually use it.

Think about this.

Someone calls you a derogatory name, and before you even have time to think, you fire one right back.

Where was the free will in that reaction?

It wasn’t there.

Your conditioned reaction took over. The stimulus came in, and your reaction went out. No pause. No choice. Just a well-rehearsed routine.

And that’s the interesting thing about free will.

It’s always available – but our conditioning can get in the way of accessing it.

That’s why I think reconditioning is the price we pay for more free will.

You have to learn to interrupt the automatic reaction long enough to create a little space between what happens and what you do about it.

So let’s say someone calls you a “fuzzy bellied lint licker.”

Your immediate reaction might be to return the favor.

But what if, instead, you threw it into neutral for a moment?

What if you interrupted that conditioned reaction and waited just long enough to choose a response that wasn’t so automatic – and maybe wasn’t so inflammatory?

Suddenly, you have options.

And isn’t that what free will really gives us?

A choice.

Because the more flexible you are, the more choices you have.

And the more choices you have, the less your conditioning gets to run your life.

So maybe free will isn’t something you simply have.

Maybe it’s something you have to practice.

Interrupt the reaction.

Create some space.

Give yourself a choice.

That’s the price of free will.

And believe me, it pays dividends.

All the best,

John