There are always two choices in this life. Well, maybe there are more than two choices, but lately I find myself standing at a fork in the road staring down two opposing paths.
So much of my life and who I believe myself to be is on autopilot; I believe I will think, behave and respond in conditioned ways to specific situations based off of how I've been for most of my life.
The reality is that we are always in a state of constant decision making. From the moment we wake up in the morning we have a choice to hit snooze on our alarms, check our email, scroll through social media, go for a run, eat a big breakfast, meditate, stretch, do yoga, sit in silence, read the newspaper, repeat positive affirmations, water our plants, bask in gratitude, feel our sadness, compare our lives to others, declare our greatness - our options are literally endless.
Yet, we often don't wake up feeling that way.
We tend to open our eyes after sleeping and submit to whatever disposition lie before us. If we wake up feeling groggy, we just think that it's going to be one of those days, and either sleep for another ten minutes or lazily get up and go about our morning routine. If we wake up feeling renewed and alive, we want to take advantage of this sensation because it graces our presence so far and few between.
We can get triggered by slow drivers, heavy traffic, ranting Facebook posts, a noisy coworker and in these moments we tend to act out our habitual patterns of behavior. You know, the way you normally respond to these situations because that's just who you are.
We can feel productive after our first coffee, happy to begin work once sitting at our desks, relieved to have someone we like working alongside us, excited for lunch out at our favorite restaurant, and during these moments we enjoy ourselves and the day itself because we woke up feeling good.
Every day we are faced with a set of both the same and new circumstances and we tend to respond and connect with these situations based off of our perception of ourselves - of who we believe ourselves to be as people.
For example, I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted to on Wednesday night and so when I got to work, I didn't want to be bothered by anyone. I slipped into my mode of, Oh I'm going to be irritable today if people keep coming into my office to talk to me. I need to catch up on work; I need to focus. I know how I get when I don't get enough sleep. Just leave me alone, please!
What does this even mean? Do you ever hear yourself talk to yourself?
Wait. Hold on a second and reread that last question.
When you read it once more, the question itself sounds absurd, but we talk to ourselves ALLLL day long, and often with no real awareness of the types of dialogue we're engaging in. Do you ever wonder where this internal dialogue comes from? Who's really talking to who and who has the control here?
Why do we set ourselves up to experience the day and our interactions with others in a negative light when we wake up not feeling 100% enthused for our schedules? It's as though we don't have a say in the matter of how we could behave if we've already proven to ourselves numerous times before that this is just how we've always been.
I'm stealing the pen and rewriting the script on this one because this is not how I want to live my life. I don't want to be one of those people who lives day to day thinking, feeling and living in the same, conditioned patterns I've been experiencing for most of my life. I want to introduce myself to other aspects of my being and invite a new Danielle into my experience, especially in moments when I feel like I will be irresponsible, messy, judgmental, unhappy, and moody.
I want to surprise myself with who I am and who I can be. The days that I wake up tired, anxious or stressed are the days that I need to ask myself, Who do you want to be today? What kind of experience do you want to invite into your world today? What version of yourself are you going to share with yourself and others today?
There is always a choice, in every moment, of every day, to view yourself and your world with awakened eyes, rather than simply living out some predetermined destiny that you, yourself, created.
We like to imagine ourselves reaching our full potential and being the perfect versions of ourselves some day - some random weekday in our distant futures. The truth is though that we are not guaranteed our futures. We are not even guaranteed tomorrow or tonight. Not to get all serious and morbid on you, but our mortality is what should spark our desire to live more alive, awake and inspired, right now.
We need to take back our power and understand our own divinity - our own ability to tap in and out of emotions based off of the thoughts we choose to think. It's time to rise to a new way of being, a heightened sensation of feeling, and a more tactical approach at full and wholeliving.
Because the truth is, how you start living today, right now, affects your week; your weeks turn into your months; your months turn into your years; and your years become the sum of your life. Your habits today create your patterns of tomorrow. It all starts with a single decision, most importantly, the decisions you make right when you get out of bed in the morning.
Who are you going to be today?
How are you going to feel?
What impact will you make on others?
How can you change the world?
Through what lens will you experience life?
What kind of world are you creating for yourself?
What world are you choosing to live in?
Who do you want to become?
The choice is always yours.
Now go live your best life.
Starting....
right now.
