In my last two entries, I talked about the difference between choice and selection, and how too much selection can actually make life harder for us. My premise for this third and last – for now anyway – entry is that true choice has nothing to do with selection.
Here’s what I mean by true choice. I wake up in the morning and have to go to work, even though I would rather stay home and write.
Well, no.
I don’t have to go to work. I choose to go to work because I want to get paid, and I don’t want to get fired. That’s just my first choice of the day. I don’t include what to have for breakfast or what to wear, because for most of us those are selections – picking one among many.
The next significant choice we make is how we are going to face the day. Will we choose to be happy? Many people believe that circumstances cause happiness or unhappiness, but that is a fallacy for normal day-to-day life. Abraham Lincoln said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” He was right.
We choose how we are going to relate to today’s challenges. Will we choose the victim role? Or will we refuse to do that and meet challenges as ways to help us grow?
We also choose how aware we will be. Do we drift through life with our minds somewhere else? De we relive the past, stewing over what can’t be changed? Do we worry about a future that’s not yet here? Or, as many spiritual traditions teach us, do we choose rather to live in the present, noticing what is happening around us and rejoice in that?
Do we choose to grouse and complain or do we take the time to show gratitude for what we have? Do we choose to gossip about those around us – or the latest celebrity – or do we choose to look for the good in those we meet? Do we choose to eat what’s good for us? Do we choose to reduce the amount of natural resources we use?
True choice involves decisions that affect our quality of life, and not ours alone, but those around us, and sometimes even those who share this planet with us.
By the way, if you are interested in quotations about choice, you might want to go to:
http://www.quotelady.com/choices.html
