Choice: A Unique & Powerful Gift

I awoke at 4 AM; no alarm blaring, no work to rush to, no predawn trip to the airport, not even a dew lined tee box to attend, just a peaceful awakening to the silence of the wee hours of the morning. I did hear and feel the mountain breezes gently rustling the shears of my window and Tigger, my beautiful, friendly and well fed cat, barely snoring with a rhythm all her own. Quietly nestled under my covers, I lay there watching the panorama of musings behind my eyelids. As if from an unknown yet familiar place, a subtle voice began asking softly… “Why do you think about what you don’t want?” Then another question a bit more forcefully…”what do you want?” Finally, as if from a short burst of machine gun fire, one last question came to me…”You know you have a choice, so why do you think more about what you don’t want than what you do want?”

There was a sense of frustration at being asked those questions and it intensified somewhat as it dawned on me that I had heard those questions before on other similar mornings. What purpose were they to serve? The morning was damp, a little chilly and somewhat raw from a recent rash of storms. I cuddled up under the covers, shifting to a more relaxed physical position and, at the same time, slightly reconfiguring the posture of my dream state, settling in for the answers I guessed. Once repositioned, along came another question and with it, the answers to the other three…”If I had only one story to tell, what message would my words convey?”

During much of the past 22 years I have been reading and learning about motivation, change, and about the power of the mind. I have read about the influence of conditioning and beliefs on our daily grind. Recently, the art and science of gratitude has come to the forefront of my thinking. Of course there is a profound affect as a result. Yet there is still one element that remains, above all others, as the primary source of hope for living a fulfilled life, however defined by you, and that is the crux of the message I leave here today.

There certainly is an element of understanding required for the adoption of this message though it is far from intellectual. In fact, it is primal in its simplicity; so much so that its understanding is almost always lost in the conditioning that takes place over a lifetime. It’s as if this elemental human trait is buried, intentionally, only to be found by those who really want to know. Because it has been portrayed as hidden and remains so even today, many refer to it as a “secret.” Alas, it is not a secret at all. It is, in my humble opinion, simply a “choice.”

My personal story is not unlike others, and even though its ending may eventually appear rather mundane, its message is none-the-less powerful, especially in its application to those who receive it with a positive expectancy and genuine desire for change…within!

Here is the message in its entirety and its simplicity…You have the power to choose! Anything and Everything! You have power over virtually no circumstance outside of your body. There are too many variables. Anything can happen at any time. You do, however, have ultimate and supreme power over one very important and overlooked mechanism; an element given by your creator which, if accepted, can change your life and many of the lives of those around you. That one thing is your power of choice, your attitude. It is the knowledge that you have a choice in every facet of your life. You were given a gift that is never taken away but, can be given up by choice or atrophy through abuse or non-use. This isn’t new and wasn’t new for the millions of people who have used its power since day one! Again, it’s not a secret, though it may be hidden within you, it is a choice!

You can choose to live or you can choose to die. You can also choose how you live in between those two points. You can choose to see the light and brightness of happiness or the dark loneliness of despair in any circumstance. You can choose to love or to hate anyone, in any environment, for any reason or you can choose to let go of all negative conditioning that does not serve you or your fellow man and you can make that choice at any time, period! You can intentionally choose to create a life that lifts the spirit of others, that serves your best interest and the interests of every individual that comes into your path through goodness and kindness or you can choose to selfishly allow the arbitrary circumstances of life, be what they may, to dictate your outcome.

Sadly, people chase happiness down every road on the map, when in reality, no map is necessary because your happiness, inherently, is determined solely by your choice to be so. Is it a fight? Sometimes! Does it require surrender? Almost always! I felt compelled to send this message. I do not feel compelled to prove it. That would be counterproductive as the only one to who that proof is necessary is you. The proof exists in the lives of so many people yet it has not been accepted. I could never provide enough testimony for you but you can decide to seek the truth that resonates with your soul and when that truth is evident in sufficient quantity and quality for you to adopt its message, you will discover a life beyond your capacity to dream. It already exists, there is nothing new, unseen perhaps, but not new!

There are no famous quotes here, no profound points to ponder, or secret information from experienced masters as my intention is to encourage you to look within and to exercise your independence from the conditioning of others, to ask yourself questions that are unique to you and to no one else. If you do, I am sure you will find exactly the life you are seeking!

In this message to you, I have seen what I did not want and why I thought more about it than what I wanted. Fortunately, I have also realized what I truly wanted. It has manifested. I have used a most powerful tool. I have chosen to see my dream and I am making it so.

May peace be with you!