Making Choices

In today’s intro class, somehow the topic of personal choice came up. We talked about Sartre’s statement, “I am my choices,” and then a little of Stephen Covey’s first habit (be proactive) managed to creep into the discussion.

Many people, young and old alike, feel that they’re stuck, that they have little or no say-so in making decisions about their own lives. How sad is that?! When a person wakes up and realizes that he or she can actually make changes in relationships, jobs, activities, studies, finances, and well, everything, that awareness can be transformative.

After class, I looked up “Recognizing Choices” in a little book entitled The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie. Here’s part of that particular meditation: “We have choices, more choices than we let ourselves see. We may feel trapped in our relationships, our jobs, our life. We may feel locked into behaviors—such as caretaking or controlling.” Ms. Beattie says that when we hear ourselves say something like, “I have to behave this way, think this way, feel this way,” then we should realize that we are choosing not to see choices.

Furthermore, Beattie continues, “That sense of being trapped is an illusion. We are not controlled by circumstances, our past, the expectations of others, or our unhealthy expectations for ourselves. We can choose what feels right for us, without guilt. We have options.”

Does this post strike a responsive chord in anyone out there? Are there some areas of your life that you need to claim or reclaim? Have you let others make your decisions for you?

Be Brave!

I just  added a link in the side bar to the Be Brave Project that was begun by a woman who saw a poster with Eleanor Roosevelt’s words, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Click on the icon to read about the “rules” and then jump in and participate. If you don’t want to participate in that particular project, then let’s start one of our own.

For starters, what would you do if fear were not a factor????