Psychologist Herbert Simon coined the phrase – ‘satisfice’ – a combination of satisfy and suffice. This would probably involve ‘going with the flow’ which tends to mean we worry less rather than agonising over the very best option or looking for something that doesn’t even exist – the perfect job, the perfect house, the perfect partner.
We might hang onto an unsatisfactory life situation simply because we’ve invested a lot of time and energy in it. It might be better to make a choice, even if the choice is to change nothing, rather than get stuck in the decision-making process and worry about all the possible – usually negative – outcomes. Usually once a decision is made intuitively, our energies become focussed into making that decision the ‘right’ one for us.
I suspect this could also relate to our health. We may have a chronic condition that we’ve got used to and have developed coping mechanisms to function adequately. We might be reluctant to change our lifestyle or have become ‘stuck’ in ‘satisfice’. In the case of our health, I would argue that it’s worth not settling for ‘good enough’ but to consider making a decision to change – it may be too late to reverse the effect of some conditions, but we may well be able to ease the symptoms, even if we know that we’ll never achieve ‘perfect’ health. Surely if the decision is to eat more healthily, drink more water, take more exercise or have a regular massage then you will feel better and you’ve nothing to lose – except weight perhaps!
The lifestyle assessment before your first holistic treatment is a good opportunity to assess what changes you might like to make. Some clients then find it useful to use the therapist as their external ‘conscience’ to provide useful feedback and help them implement and maintain those changes.