Choices, Power & Responsibility

January 12th 2012

Every second of every day, we make choices.
 
We choose whether or not we're going to get out of bed in the morning.
We choose what we wear.
We choose what we eat.
We choose what things (if any) we are going to accomplish on our ever-growing "to-do" lists.
We choose who we are going to reach out to and we choose who we are going to ignore.

We choose what we put up with or don't put up with in relationships or marriages.
We choose what careers we want, or what level of education we attain.
We choose to break the law, or abide by it.
We choose where we live, how we live, and what moral code we live by.

Choosing, in many instances has become as much of a thoughtless ritual as breathing.
We do it but we aren't always conscious of it.
And the weird thing about choices and choosing is that both inaction and action are choices.

Unless you are an infant or an inmate, you choose.

Some of us get stuck into ruts or thrown into situations and we complain.
And complaining can be good, because sometimes it's all we need to keep going on if the situation we're in can't be changed.
But even with things that we can't change (an overbearing parent, a heath condition, the weather, etc) we still have control over our interactions and reactions with those things.

& what's that phrase from Spiderman? "With great power comes great responsibility"?

Well... I don't think you have to be the President to be considered someone who has "great power".

Each one of us has great power. We have great power because we have choices.

And just as we are taught when we are children- our choices have consequences.

It is SO easy to blame others. YOU wronged me and so THAT'S why I am the way I am.
No. It is one thing to recognize that other people have had an impact on us.
We're humans- of COURSE we are affected by other people's actions (just as we impact them)
but at the end of the day, your behavior is a choice.

You have to take responsibility. You are where you are because you put yourself there. Maybe not a 100% conscious decision or placement, or it may not always be JUST you.

If i'm driving on a highway and it's windy out--- the wind may push my car a little to the left or a little to the right even though I am holding the steering wheel steady-- but it's not enough for me to roll my car over and say "well, the wind did it".



I am not perfect.
I complain about things I can easily change, I make stupid choices, and sometimes I'm slow to take responsibility for my actions.
But I swear, I'm working on it. I'm learning.
It is so much easier to change myself than to change the millions of people I'll interact with over my lifetime.
Finding happiness and fulfilling our dreams and our purpose in life are the most important things any of us will do in our lives. To hand over the control of that to other people is both foolish and dangerous.

I choose. I'm in control. I have the power.
& owning up to that means to stop pointing fingers, even when life slaps me in the face.



and that's all i have to say about that.