Choice, it's only 6 little letters but in my opinion one of the most powerful words in the English language! Our lives are full of choices, every minute of every day from the moment we wake up until the moment we go to bed, we are constantly making choices. Even when we choose not to choose we have still made a choice. The ability we have to make choices is what gives us our power, its the control we have over our own life and the direction it goes in. However how often do we simply give away this power? How often do we feel we have no choice?
Let's look at the reality here. It is certainly true that often life will present us with situations where there are no "good" or "perfect" choices. ( I lovingly call this situation, s****y choice 1 and s****y choice 2). You know that kind of situation where it feels like all the odds are stacked against you or whatever way you go something is not going to be right or fair. The fact of the matter is that life isn't always fair, things don't always work out the way we would like and we can't always have exactly what we want....BUT and here is the most important bit! You still have a choice.
It’s not about what life throws our way, it’s how we deal with those circumstances that matters. The "choice" is how we allow the situation to impact us both mentally, physically and most importantly emotionally. In simple terms, its how we show up in our own lives. We can opt to become the victim, giving away our power, allowing anger, frustration and disappointment to become our mantra or we can be the survivor. Instead of focusing on the negative, you can re-frame challenging experiences. You can choose to look at and react to difficult moments in a more positive way. By empowering ourselves to take full responsibility for our own life and remembering that we have control of what we do next, even in the deepest, darkest moments of your life, you can still choose how you look at those situations and how you respond. The simple truth is, that no matter what, everyone has the power of choice.
Another familiar scenario where we feel we have no choice, is when faced with doing things we don't want to. But again, lets have a bit of a reality check here, the only reason you do things you don't want to is because you CHOOSE to. No one should or has the right to make you do anything you don't want to do. They may not like your choice and you may not like their reaction as a result of your choice but you can still make the decision to say No. Saying “I do this because I have to” is simply a way of removing our responsibility and blaming others. There is no "HAVE TO" , the plain fact is you don't HAVE to do anything. You choose what you do and what you don't. When we blame others for our choices, we are once again actively handing over our power.
You have the power!
In whatever situation you find yourself, you always have a choice. The first step is to recognise it. It may be choices you can’t readily see or want to accept. It may be choices that you don’t really want to take, or are afraid to. It may be choices that go against what you believe in. With awareness that everything you do is in fact a choice, you have the opportunity to shift your narrative. Instead of placing the blame and the power with others that you perceive are “making” you do something, you can get clear on the reasons why you want to do what you’re doing. It’s not always comfortable to own up to your actions. But doing so puts you back in the driver’s seat in life and gives you a chance to connect with the sense of being empowered to manage your own life and the path you take.
You always have a choice.
Love and light
Sharon x x x
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