Each day, we all make choices from the time we wake up until the day ends. At this moment you are reading this article because you made a choice to do so. I Hope you choose to read the whole article.
Looking at choices on a bigger scale, your life today is a sum total of the choices that you have made. In other words, your life, and mine too, is a combination of years and years of choices. We can all look back and see some bad choices as well as good choices.
Now some people disagree with this kind of thinking. They do not accept that their own life and destiny is in their own hands. They fail to see that their choices of thoughts and actions have anything to do with where their life is today.
Is your life in a mess today because of the economy? Are things difficult for you because of what the government is doing? Have the actions of other people caused you to suffer?
Life Without Challenges?
We all face challenges. And of course there are many things outside of our control that can and do affect us. But for someone who chooses to take responsibility for his or her life, they see those things as simply challenges. It is an opportunity for them to choose to overcome the challenges and be successful.
But instead, some continue to choose to whine, complain and blame. It is a real day of awakening when a person realizes that their thoughts and actions are a result of their own choices. People choose to whine, complain and blame.
But those who choose to take responsibility to overcome their challenges will be successful. Those who choose to whine and complain and blame will continue to sit in misery. Each one of us really chooses our own destiny.
Why Is It Easier For Some?
Why does it seem so much easier for some people to be solution oriented while others feel hopeless and helpless? The answer is choices. Years of choices mold us into who we are today.
Over the years, you and I have chosen to think certain thoughts. Over the years, we have chosen to nurture certain emotions. And over the years, we have chosen to do certain things.
All of those choices have actually fashioned and molded us into who we are this very moment. It’s why we think the way we think and act the way we act. That’s also why it can seem to be difficult to think differently.
If we have “programmed” ourselves by choosing certain thoughts and actions over the years, what about choices today? How can we choose a different way of thinking if we have already set our mental program to think a certain way? Do we really have a choice now?
The Brain
I continue to marvel at how God designed the human brain. It is absolutely fantastic. Scientists say that even with all that we now know about the brain, we still know very little.
Yes, we do indeed have a choice, every day, to think the thoughts we want to think. The thoughts that we think that are contrary to our current belief system, our minds will try to reject. We mentally resist thoughts and ideas that we do not believe to be true.
For example, a person who sees himself as a failure with no possibility of ever rising above poverty will meet any thought of being successful with resistance. Yes, the idea might sound really good at first, but then their core beliefs kick in and negate it, saying something like, “Come on now; you know that is not for you; you know who you really are.”
But just as we built our current belief system one thought and one action at a time, we can change that belief system, one thought and one action at a time. When we choose to introduce new thinking we need to listen to the resistance and objections from our own mind. We must then consciously kick those thoughts of rejection out.
Put Off And Put On
The Bible refers to this process as “putting off and putting on.” We have a choice. We can choose what to put off and what to put on. We do it with our clothing every day, right? Well why not do it with our thinking every day?
We can choose to continue to put off mentally the thoughts we don’t want and replace them with the thoughts we do want. At the same time, we can act or carry ourselves in accordance with the new choices that we are making. We will see a change if we consistently choose to put off the wrong thoughts, and instead choose to think the right thoughts.
One thought at a time, and one action at a time we can build for ourselves the life we desire to live, despite the challenges that we are faced with. The choice is ours.
Mike Verdicchio
2012
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Mike,
Great post! Will be sharing this on FB. Nicely done.
Bless,
Chere
Thanks, Chere – have a super weekend!