The Power Of Choice…
It is hard sometimes to get our heads around the idea that with the majority of what we do in life, we have a choice. Choice is one of the most powerful tools we have. You may be asking yourself why ‘negative things’ occur in your life? - Because they do and they will continue to from time to time..
But everything boils down to a choice. At any point we can change the direction of our lives by a simple choice. It's all in OUR hands and our hearts and our minds.
An emotion lasts within us for around 90 seconds. What we do after that is the story we tie to it... ultimately a choice we are making....for it to consume us, or to let it go.
For example, I get out of bed and I hit my toe on the bed. I could say 'ouch, that hurt....' and get on with the rest of my day but I could also say 'ouch, that hurt...of course that was going to happen...it is going to be one of those days' and so on and so forth with a negative outlook taking over your day. In such a small example you can see the difference of how we have the choice to how we respond when things happens to us. Choose to let go? Or choose to let it consume you.
We are put on this earth for survival and procreation. Our brains like to challenge us and scan for fear. We are not born to be happy. Our brain is a muscle and we have to disrupt it, challenge it, change the language and start thinking about the choices we make in every situation....rather than just going with the mentality 'this is what I know'.
I've always loved delving into gurus like Tony Robbins. His quote "It is your decisions, and not your conditions, that determine your destiny.” I won’t dismiss our conditions as irrelevant, however for any situation one person claims shaped their destiny for the worse, there are many examples of people who used their decisions and action to overcome those same circumstances. See what i'm getting at?
What is something in your life, the conditions in which you live, that you claim are holding you back?
Have you examined them to see if that is really true? Or if it’s mostly a lack of decision (or fear) on your part? There is no doubt that conditions in your life will have an impact on your destiny, but the quote above is basically saying that your choices (or lack thereof) have a much larger impact.
It's not that anyone chooses pain. I can’t think of a single person who’d choose despair or insecurity. No one elects shame to be their shadow. Not even boredom is a choice. Sometimes we just forget the power of our mind or maybe we underestimate the power of our intentions.
Maybe start your day by writing “I can choose” somewhere that is visible to you, as a reminder. This could be on your hand, your mirror or on your daily ‘to do list’. It can give us the power to take control of parts of our life. Every morning do it...for at least a month. Eventually, you won’t need a visual reminder.
How long we stay mad and how long we wait to reach for hope, when we say yes and when we say no, and how long we say only what others want to hear are all up to us. Whether we see the world with gratitude or resentment begins with a choice.
I'm not saying it is easy, i'm not saying that you are always going to make the 'BEST' choice, i'm not saying you have to be a super hero, but what I am saying is we have much more control over the choices we make than we think. Be kind to yourself. Disrupt your status quo. Start listening to how you respond. One step at a time.