by Caroline Makepeace

ezine20090722_chooseMuch of the content from today’s blog was inspired by my own revelations through my Personal Development Course with the assistance of my mentor, as well as Stephen Covey’s book ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’

Do you feel as if you have no control over the things that happen in your life? Do you feel that it’s circumstances or conditions that have placed you where you are now and there is just nothing you can do about it? Well if you are, then you are living life reactively and it’s time for you to wake up and understand that you do have a choice. You are the controller of your destiny. You decide how your life will unfold by the decisions you make and the reactions you have to the events that occur in your life.

There is a space that exists between what happens to you and how you respond to it. Inside this space is ‘you’. The true essence of you; the self-awareness of you. It is the place where you can sit quietly and observe yourself in detachment. You can see what is happening to you and make an aware choice of what your resulting action will be. It is the place of pure freedom, of proactive choice. Without you occupying this space of awareness you will always be in reaction to your feelings, conditions and circumstances. You will feel trapped and out of control over your own destiny. You will be just letting life happen to you, instead of you being life!

Victor Frankl operated from this place when he was incarcerated in a Nazi concentration camp during World War 2. He lived in the most degrading circumstances of human suffering. He watched as those he loved around him were murdered and tortured; yet he decided that despite all this he was a truly free man. Although his physical freedom had been taken from him he realized that his true freedom could never be, as he could choose how he would react to his circumstances. He managed to operate from his space of self-awareness and he found meaning through his suffering and became an inspiration to many including that of his captors.

Victor Frankl chose life. The meaning that he chose to take from this nightmarish situation should serve as a reminder to us all that we have the freedom to choose the meaning out of any situation. Are your conditions right now anywhere on par or worse than his? If he could choose happiness, freedom and life than why can’t you? Learn to live from the space between what happens to you and your response to that. Understand that you have choice. You can become proactive in your life rather than reactive.

Reactive people blame the circumstances and conditions of their life and get stuck in the position of the eternal victim, ‘I can’t because…… I’m like this because…. Reactive people are always affected by their physical and social environment. They are asleep and not ‘awake’ to the idea that they have the freedom to choose how to be and respond to the events of their life. They live life on auto pilot.

Proactive people operate from the space of self-awareness. They don’t allow circumstances, conditions or feelings to dictate their current position in life. They choose how to respond to the stimulus and as a result have positive responses. They operate their life, they steer the plane.

I recently woke up to the realisation of this truth. I was assisted in getting there though the Personal Development course that is connected to my business. I had been operating my life on auto-pilot. I felt I was a helpless victim and was completely powerless to change my circumstances.

I now know that I am a powerful creator and I can choose the direction I want my life to go in. Learning how to live from this space of self-awareness was my day of liberation. I have the freedom always to choose my thoughts and to create my world. I can easily change what I don’t like and create what I do. My life is blossoming as a result.

Whatever is ugly in your life right now is there because you chose it to be that way. You consented to the hurt. You chose the reaction. OUCH!!! That hurts. Yes, the truth often does but the truth is also pure and empowering.

As Stephen Covey says in his book, ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’, “Until a person can say deeply and honestly, I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday ” that person cannot say “I choose otherwise”

I Choose Otherwise…..

About the Author:
Caroline is an Australian living in the US. She and her husband have a passion for travel: they have travelled to 33 countries and lived in 5. Her mission is to help others to live their best life and to enjoy all the wealth and happiness this planet has to offer. “This planet is so amazingly beautiful,” says Caroline, “and with so much to see and do. We love life and live it with total passion.”

Read more of her articles at http://www.oprah.com/community/blogs/cmakepeace/


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