|
You've
read them--the short pieces that tell you that what you do today
is your choice, and the way you feel when you go to bed tonight is
the result of how you've acted--the choices you've made when
you've said things to people, when you've done things for or to
others, when you've overeaten or deprived yourself of necessary
nutrients. We all make choices, all day, every day.
Those choices don't necessarily determine who we are as people,
but they do go a long way towards determining how others see
us. And they definitely contribute greatly to how we see
ourselves.
What
you do today is your choice. Do you make the sarcastic
comment about the person you don't care for, or do you hold your
tongue? Even if the person "deserves" the comment,
ask yourself this: does the comment say more about you or
about the other person?
Are
you tempted to do something dishonest? One of my hard and
fast rules is to ask myself if I'll be afraid of getting caught
(or ashamed to admit) having done a particular thing. If the
answer is yes, then I won't do it, no matter what the short-term
consequences.
Do
you want to become healthier? Then today you choose whether
or not you'll go for a long walk, whether you'll eat the food
loaded with fat and calories, whether you'll skip the cake
in favor of a piece of fruit.
|
|
Today
you choose whether to greet the grumpy, rude person with a smile
and a warm hello, or to return the grumpiness and rudeness.
Today
you choose whether or not to start that novel or poem or story or
song that you've been wanting to write. You won't finish it
today, but if you write a line a day of a poem, in a month or
less, you'll have an entire poem. If you write a paragraph a
day, you can have a short story in a few weeks, or a chapter of
your novel.
Why
do most people NOT choose to be constructive and to work towards
attainable goals? Most of my students let their fears
control their choices--they fear failure and pain, so if they
never take a risk, they'll never feel the pain.
Unfortunately, this logic is flawed. If you have a new idea
at work and you present it, it may be accepted or rejected.
If it's accepted, the risk was worthwhile, right?
But
if it's rejected, the risk was still worthwhile. People now
know that you have ideas, and that you're willing to present them
to try to help out others. You also feel better about
yourself for having had the idea and for having presented it.
The
other option is to choose not to present it. Then no one
knows that you even have an idea, and you never know what might
have happened had you presented it.
It's
easier than it sounds. You have a conscience--let it be your
guide to your choices. You know inside which are the right
things to do and which aren't. If you're in gray area, get
advice from someone you respect; never get advice from someone you
don't respect. Make your choices based on the idea of the
person you want to be, the person you want to show to the rest of
the world. If you want people to see an honest, loving,
caring, compassionate person when they look at you, then make
choices that reflect those qualities. If you want people to
see a selfish, insensitive, uncaring, rude person, then make
choices that reflect those qualities.
If
you allow your conscience to be your guide in choosing, life will
take care of you. Trust it.
|
