Choosing or not choosing..is making educated decisions your choice?

Do you feel excitement or fear when faced with decisions? Choosing not to choose is a choice. The time to choose may pass by and you have made a passive choice, to let it.

“Choosing is a creative process, one through which we construct our environment, our lives, ourselves,” Iyengar says in her book. “If we ask for more and more material for the construction, i.e. more and more choice, we’re likely to end up with a lot of combinations that don’t do much for us or are far more complex than they need to be.” In certain situations, she argues, we benefit from having our choices limited. In short, inexpert choosers sometimes do best when they rely on experts to choose for them. At other times, the sheer complexity and volume of choices deter people from choosing at all—even when that choice is important.

“Knowledge should be a public good, and I want my ideas to have as much exposure as possible,” Sheena S. Iyengar in The Art of Choosing.

Human beings, Iyengar suggests, are born to choose. But human beings are also born to create meaning. Choice and meaning are intertwined. We use choice to define our identities, and our choices are determined by the meanings we give them, from advertising-driven associations to personal relationships and philosophical commitments. Some meanings we can articulate, while others remain beyond words. “Science can assist us in becoming more skillful choosers,” Iyengar cautions, “but at its core, choice remains an art.”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mind-reviews-the-art-of-choosing