Choices
Tuesday July 29, 2008 Most people stumble from moment to moment buffeted by the environment, other people’s attitudes, and a belief system that they are a victim of circumstances. Because of this stumbling they often find themselves falling into the same trap they fell into yesterday and the day before. How they got to this moment is the sum total of their previous choices, however, this does not mean they are powerless to affect their present moment. Each moment offers an opportunity for new choices. Waking up is a process of seeing each moment as the sum total of all there is. In this moment there is no yesterday, there is no tomorrow, there is only now. Life is a reflection of how we see the world. Have you noticed that when you are late for an appointment, and you get behind the wheel of a car that every slow driver in town just happens to be going the same way you are, that most of the traffic lights turn red just before you get to them, or that this is the day the county finally decided to work on those pot holes? The truth is those slow drivers are with us every day, the lights are changing the same as they do every day and that the county is always working on the road somewhere. The difference is our attitude, our way of looking at things. When we are in a hurry, everything we normally take as part of life suddenly takes on the role of an obstacle. Those “things” have not changed, our attitude towards them has. To change our life, to take charge of our lives we must change our belief system. Regardless of what we do, regardless of where we find ourselves in the present moment, we still have choices. One of those choices invariably is “Do I look at this moment (consciously) with love in my heart, with anger, with charity, with frustration, or do I (unconsciously) let the feelings arise of their own accord as this moment plays out.” Did you even realize you have this choice? When facing a boss/coworker/spouse, very few people have the ability to see they have a choice of how to feel, let alone be able to act on that choice. Nevertheless, the choice exists, and not exercising that choice, or any choice, is in reality making a choice. By exercising no conscious choice, we by default unconsciously choose to be buffeted by the events around us, to allow those events to control how we feel, and allow ourselves to fall into the same old traps that we seem to continually find ourselves stuck in. The question becomes how does one gain the ability to choose in those moments when life is screaming in your face with its fullest strongest intensity? The answer is we have to live in the now. We have to let go of all the baggage we carry from before, we have to forget that appointment we have two hours from now, we have to fully and completely embrace the present moment. Only when there are no past / future obstacles in the way can we access the wisdom of our earlier lessons and see the choices that face us now. When we can see the choices that face us, we have the ability to choose a different path. At that moment we have the ability to change our destiny. That said, embracing the now is not a once in a while thing to do. Embracing and living in the now is a daily, moment to moment way of life. Living in the now will not make everything in your world suddenly come up roses. What it will do is allow you to have choices concerning the direction your life goes, to choose the path your life takes. Clint Perry I invite your comments and will publish them here. |