The Significance of Simple Choices
5th November 2021
This week’s topic touched upon the choices we make when it comes to everyday things, and how these choices can affect our mental health and wellbeing without us realising. I have come across many people who say, “what does it matter if I do ‘such a thing’…I mean I’m not breaking any laws or hurting anyone?” In a bid to excuse myself and allow me to make that choice without any judgement. Yes, although no laws are broken, such statements can be a bit misleading because I can end up hurting myself. Inevitably, when we make the wrong choices we can end up hurting our inner selves. So what choices am I talking about?
The choices might seem rather mundane, such as; whether I should look at a certain thing or not; or should I go on that website?; should I follow that link?; should I respond to those comments?; should I download that video or photo? They are the split second choices we make, without giving a further thought. If any after-thought did exist, it might be- if someone reacted to my choice by saying, “what do you think you’re doing?!” or “that’s not very nice!”, my defence could be…”what’s the big deal?” or “it’s not hurting anyone is it?!” The fact of the matter is often, even with split second choices we can end up hurting ourselves. It has only recently become apparent to me that I can end up affecting my own personal mental health and wellbeing. This might have got readers confused because I am not being specific. So let me give you an example. Let’s say I hear a rumour about a person I know, and soon after- I get a video which apparently proves the rumour to be true. Now, I haven’t yet seen the video, but I still have a choice whether or not to download and view it. I might say to myself, seeing the video will not hurt anyone because I won’t exactly be directly talking to the person concerned. Besides, she’ll never even know that I saw the video! Whatever excuse I can come up with, if I end up watching that video, the next time I see her I may well treat her differently. So, subconciously it could have an effect on my future behaviour towards that person.
From an Islamic context we might say that we have wronged our souls, because there are several references to how we have oppressed ourselves, even through minor infractions. According to the Qur’an after Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit, they both took responsibility for their actions by making the following invocation: “Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You do not forgive us and do not have mercy on us, we shall surely be among the losers.” [Al Qur’an 7:23].
In conclusion to this topic, I remind myself firstly, and all our readers that we must take greater care when making even casual choices, no matter how insignificant they may seem, so that we do not become losers without realising what we have lost. Now there is a danger that one could end up spending far too long deciding whether it should be ‘salt and vinegar’ for lunch or ‘cheese and onion’! But equally if we hear ourselves making excuses about the choices we’re about to make, we should stop and consider whether these excuses are just an opportunity for allowing ourselves to do whatever we desire, without considering the consequences. As always, I may well have left more of you confused rather than enlightened, if that’s the case – please email me on amiah3@glos.ac.uk with your thoughts. Take care and thank you for your attention. Until next time!