Sometimes life knocks you down.
You find excuses for your situation.
You wonder “Why me?”
Take a moment to view this short video of an incredible man who made a choice.
Moving
3 years ago
Showing posts with label choice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label choice. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Choice
If I had no choice about the age in which I was to live, I nevertheless have a choice about the attitude I take and about the way and the extent of my participation in its living ongoing events.
To choose the world is not then merely a pious admission that the world is acceptable because it comes from the hand of God.
It is first of all an acceptance of a task and a vocation in the world, in history and in time. In my time, which is the present.
To choose the world is to choose to do the work I am capable of doing, in collaboration with my brother and sister, to make the world better, more free, more just, more livable, more human.
And it has now become transparently obvious that mere automatic "rejection of the world" and "contempt for the world" is in fact not a choice but an evasion of choice.
The person, who pretends that he can turn his back on Auschwitz or Viet Nam and acts as if they were not there, is simply bluffing.
Thomas Merton
To choose the world is not then merely a pious admission that the world is acceptable because it comes from the hand of God.
It is first of all an acceptance of a task and a vocation in the world, in history and in time. In my time, which is the present.
To choose the world is to choose to do the work I am capable of doing, in collaboration with my brother and sister, to make the world better, more free, more just, more livable, more human.
And it has now become transparently obvious that mere automatic "rejection of the world" and "contempt for the world" is in fact not a choice but an evasion of choice.
The person, who pretends that he can turn his back on Auschwitz or Viet Nam and acts as if they were not there, is simply bluffing.
Thomas Merton
Thursday, March 20, 2008
The Ability To Choose
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
--Reinhold Niebuhr
Some things I can change:
the youthfulness of my spirit,
who my friends are,
my hair color,
my weight,
my adult experiences,
my achievements,
my character,
my reaction to someone else's use of alcohol or other drugs,
whether my eyes will shine,
my job possibilities,
what I will bequeath,
how I feel,
my ability to act on today's opportunities,
how well I will live,
whom I forgive,
how much I love,
the future.
I thank God for my growing ability to choose
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Starting New -- A Moment Of Choice
There are times in our lives that lend themselves to starting something new.
The beginning of a new year, finishing school, leaving a job, or changing homes—these all are times that turn our minds to fresh starts.
Their advantage is that they bring with them the energy of that event, creating a tide of change around them that we can ride to our next shoreline.
But we can choose to start anew anytime.
In any moment we can decide that a bad day or a relationship that’s gotten off on the wrong foot can be started again.
It is a mental shift that allows us to clean the slate and approach anything with fresh eyes, and we can make that choice at any time.
Starting new is most powerful when we focus our attention to what we are choosing to create.
Giving all of our attention to the unwanted aspects of our lives allows what we resist to persist.
We need to remember to leave enough room in the process of new beginnings to be kind to ourselves, because it takes time to become accustomed to anything new, no matter how much we like it.
There is no need to get down on ourselves if we don't reach our new goals instantly.
Instead, we acknowledge the forward motion and choose to reset and start again, knowing that with each choice we learn, grow, and move forward.
Making the choice to start anew has its own energy—it's a promise made to you.
The forward momentum creates a sort of vacuum behind it, pulling toward you all you need to help you continue moving in your chosen direction.
Once the journey has begun, it may take unexpected turns, but it never really ends.
Like cycles in nature, there are periods of obvious growth and periods of dormancy that signal a time of waiting for the right moment to burst forth.
Each time we choose to start anew we dedicate ourselves to becoming the best we are able to be.
The beginning of a new year, finishing school, leaving a job, or changing homes—these all are times that turn our minds to fresh starts.
Their advantage is that they bring with them the energy of that event, creating a tide of change around them that we can ride to our next shoreline.
But we can choose to start anew anytime.
In any moment we can decide that a bad day or a relationship that’s gotten off on the wrong foot can be started again.
It is a mental shift that allows us to clean the slate and approach anything with fresh eyes, and we can make that choice at any time.
Starting new is most powerful when we focus our attention to what we are choosing to create.
Giving all of our attention to the unwanted aspects of our lives allows what we resist to persist.
We need to remember to leave enough room in the process of new beginnings to be kind to ourselves, because it takes time to become accustomed to anything new, no matter how much we like it.
There is no need to get down on ourselves if we don't reach our new goals instantly.
Instead, we acknowledge the forward motion and choose to reset and start again, knowing that with each choice we learn, grow, and move forward.
Making the choice to start anew has its own energy—it's a promise made to you.
The forward momentum creates a sort of vacuum behind it, pulling toward you all you need to help you continue moving in your chosen direction.
Once the journey has begun, it may take unexpected turns, but it never really ends.
Like cycles in nature, there are periods of obvious growth and periods of dormancy that signal a time of waiting for the right moment to burst forth.
Each time we choose to start anew we dedicate ourselves to becoming the best we are able to be.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
The Freedom to Refuse Love
Often hell is portrayed as a place of punishment and heaven as a place of reward.
But this concept easily leads us to think about God as either a policeman, who tries to catch us when we make a mistake and send us to prison when our mistakes become too big, or a Santa Claus, who counts up all our good deeds and puts a reward in our stocking at the end of the year.
God, however, is neither a policeman nor a Santa Claus.
God does not send us to heaven or hell depending on how often we obey or disobey.
God is love and only love.
In God there is no hatred, desire for revenge, or pleasure in seeing us punished.
God wants to forgive, heal, restore, show us endless mercy, and see us come home.
But just as the father of the prodigal son let his son make his own decision God gives us the freedom to move away from God's love even at the risk of destroying ourselves.
But this concept easily leads us to think about God as either a policeman, who tries to catch us when we make a mistake and send us to prison when our mistakes become too big, or a Santa Claus, who counts up all our good deeds and puts a reward in our stocking at the end of the year.
God, however, is neither a policeman nor a Santa Claus.
God does not send us to heaven or hell depending on how often we obey or disobey.
God is love and only love.
In God there is no hatred, desire for revenge, or pleasure in seeing us punished.
God wants to forgive, heal, restore, show us endless mercy, and see us come home.
But just as the father of the prodigal son let his son make his own decision God gives us the freedom to move away from God's love even at the risk of destroying ourselves.
Hell is not God's choice.
It is ours.
-- Henri Nouwen
Friday, June 29, 2007
More Weeds
It does make a difference what you call things.
--Kate Douglas Wiggin
Most of us think of dandelions as weeds.
We buy special tools and poisons when they crop up and complain about them as surely as we welcome the spring that brings them.
Yet is there anything more lovely than a sea of yellow dandelions by the side of the road in June?
Or as remarkable in transformation as the filaments of the mature dandelion blowing on the wind?
Sometimes we let someone else define for us what are weeds and what are flowers.
We don't have to.
Much of the beauty of the world is that we ourselves decide what is beautiful according to our own feelings.
How lucky we are that, when we choose to, we can open our eyes and see!
Can I see the beauty in those around me right now?
More Weeds
It does make a difference what you call things.
--Kate Douglas Wiggin
Most of us think of dandelions as weeds.
We buy special tools and poisons when they crop up and complain about them as surely as we welcome the spring that brings them.
Yet is there anything more lovely than a sea of yellow dandelions by the side of the road in June?
Or as remarkable in transformation as the filaments of the mature dandelion blowing on the wind?
Sometimes we let someone else define for us what are weeds and what are flowers.
We don't have to.
Much of the beauty of the world is that we ourselves decide what is beautiful according to our own feelings.
How lucky we are that, when we choose to, we can open our eyes and see!
Can I see the beauty in those around me right now?
Monday, May 21, 2007
The Path Of The Heart
If not now, when?
If not me, who?
To walk the path of the heart is a great honor.
Every human has the choice to walk this path, but very few will decide to make it.
Why? Well, because you can't act and behave like everyone else behaves.
You must be the person who will learn to look within.
You must be the person who will be fully accountable for yourself.
You must be the person who prays and meditates.
You must be the person who will sacrifice.
You must decide to be a Peaceful Warrior.
What will you decide today?
Oh, Great Mystery, lead me on the path of the heart.
If not me, who?
To walk the path of the heart is a great honor.
Every human has the choice to walk this path, but very few will decide to make it.
Why? Well, because you can't act and behave like everyone else behaves.
You must be the person who will learn to look within.
You must be the person who will be fully accountable for yourself.
You must be the person who prays and meditates.
You must be the person who will sacrifice.
You must decide to be a Peaceful Warrior.
What will you decide today?
Oh, Great Mystery, lead me on the path of the heart.
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