The Power of Choice
Many people in this life wonder how they can have a life that is meaningful. The thing that we commonly do not see and easily underestimate is our power of choice. The greatest determinant in our lives to shape the quality of our life is the way we choose to see things. If we look at ourselves, other people, situations, and life itself through eyes of fear, distrust, disdain, and paranoia, then we shall be preparing to have a pretty miserable experience of life. Now many might say that they are being realistic by having such a negative slant on things. But what does seem realistic is that we get what we put out into this life. We put out negativity and we get negativity back and that is the way things work. In contrast, if we put out positivity we get positivity back. It's the law of cause and effect and even though there are exceptions because sometimes there are accidents and other unfortunate circumstances, it is a very important thing to know and remember.
The difficulty with life is that it's unpredictable and that we are human. There is much instinctual programming in us that is beyond our conscious control. It is human and common that we get angry. It is human and common that we want to lash back at those who threaten us. It is human and common to be fearful of what we do not know and do not understand. It is human to develop and maintain an "us versus them" attitude and posture in life. But the thing that we commonly don't realize is how much our lives are negatively affected by such things especially when they are frequent and habitual. We don't often realize the price we pay for acting from our more primitive nature. And the great hope for humanity is that we can use our advanced mind capabilities to transcend the downside of our primitive legacy. These advanced mind capabilities comprise what we have previously referred to as virtues. These include compassion, patience, empathy, tolerance, generosity, and forgiveness among many others. These virtues are mind states and choices that we may make in deciding how we conduct ourselves. The good news for us is that we do not have to continue to be chained to reacting from our old primitive reactive states of mind. We can aspire and develop the intention to choose virtuous actions to deal with life.
I maintain that choosing virtue is choosing to see life through eyes of love. Because the virtues are forms of love's expression. It is impossible for any human being to choose to be virtuous in every situation. The reason for this is because of our human nature. It is entirely unrealistic to expect ourselves to "perfectionistically" be virtuous all the time. The best we can do, is to develop the intention to choose loving actions and responses to what we experience in life and then act appropriately. The benefit of this is that we create a much more positive experience of life. We create an experience of life that reflects that we are choosing to honor what is of most value and importance in this life. This is the great power that we have. The power to think and act in a loving and kind way. This is our great power of choice.
The difficulty with life is that it's unpredictable and that we are human. There is much instinctual programming in us that is beyond our conscious control. It is human and common that we get angry. It is human and common that we want to lash back at those who threaten us. It is human and common to be fearful of what we do not know and do not understand. It is human to develop and maintain an "us versus them" attitude and posture in life. But the thing that we commonly don't realize is how much our lives are negatively affected by such things especially when they are frequent and habitual. We don't often realize the price we pay for acting from our more primitive nature. And the great hope for humanity is that we can use our advanced mind capabilities to transcend the downside of our primitive legacy. These advanced mind capabilities comprise what we have previously referred to as virtues. These include compassion, patience, empathy, tolerance, generosity, and forgiveness among many others. These virtues are mind states and choices that we may make in deciding how we conduct ourselves. The good news for us is that we do not have to continue to be chained to reacting from our old primitive reactive states of mind. We can aspire and develop the intention to choose virtuous actions to deal with life.
I maintain that choosing virtue is choosing to see life through eyes of love. Because the virtues are forms of love's expression. It is impossible for any human being to choose to be virtuous in every situation. The reason for this is because of our human nature. It is entirely unrealistic to expect ourselves to "perfectionistically" be virtuous all the time. The best we can do, is to develop the intention to choose loving actions and responses to what we experience in life and then act appropriately. The benefit of this is that we create a much more positive experience of life. We create an experience of life that reflects that we are choosing to honor what is of most value and importance in this life. This is the great power that we have. The power to think and act in a loving and kind way. This is our great power of choice.
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