Almost everything in life is there because we allow it to be there, because we have given our permission for it to be there. It often doesn’t seem that way, especially when we are in the thick of a problem. If someone were to tell us that we chose it, we would angrily say, “I never wanted this! I never would have agreed to this!” But if we think about it, we do agree to almost everything.
We let certain people into our lives. We choose a certain profession. Most of us will choose what we eat at any given
time. We choose what we will believe,
what faith we will have (if any) and how that faith will affect us. We choose which news articles we will read
and which we will ignore. We choose what
we will do, and we choose what we will not do.
We choose what we will wear, etc.
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| I can see clearly. |
Sometimes it doesn’t seem like a choice. “If I had the money, I would have chosen
differently….” “If I had known he was
going to behave this way, I never would have married him (hindsight is
20/20)….” “If someone had explained this
would cause me problems, I would have listened….” But really, we make the choice.
Here’s something interesting, though: The mechanism of life requires our permission
to do anything. And unfortunately, that
permission is all too easily given by us without us even knowing or thinking
about it. An advertiser can suggest
something, but unless you give your permission for it to enter your life, it’s
barred. A society can heavily point you
in a direction, but unless you accept that direction, it cannot come into your
life. A news article can tell you,
“here’s what’s going on [according to our
belief],” but you don’t have to live according to that belief.
Now, this is not about being in a state of denial. When you make choices, when you knowingly
give your permission, you’re not saying you refuse to see or acknowledge the
existence of something. You’re saying
that you see it, but you are not going to live your life according to those
standards, ideas, principles, products, etc.
Here are some things you can’t choose: The weather.
Your genetics. What someone else
will do or say. The fact that someday
you will die.
But you can choose how you will react to those things,
and you can permit or deny allowing those things to control you. You can control yourself. You can permit others to control you. But you cannot control others (unless they
give their permission).
Stop saying, “Oh, well.
This is just the way it is.” No,
it isn’t. You get to say what is and is not in your life, what you will and
will not allow to affect you. You don’t
get to choose what others do, but you do
get to choose how you will react.
Here are some of the things I choose: A life without too much technology. I don’t allow many gadgets into my home, and
the ones I do allow, I severely limit. I
choose to do a lot of work by hand that technology could do for me, and that
means I choose exhaustion sometimes. I
choose to live in a state that is quite cold instead of one that is too
hot. I choose simple foods. I choose pretty steep discipline. I choose to continually monitor myself. I choose silence. I choose oil lamps over electric lights. I choose herbal medicines over allopathic
medicines. I often choose hardships
because I like to challenge myself…..
Notice that I acknowledge the existence of other paths, I
simply do not choose them. What is right
for me might seem insane to you. What do
you choose? What have you permitted into
your life? What could you toss out this
very moment if you no longer wanted it?
What could you embrace?
The choices are endless, and save for a few, they are
completely up to us. Remember that
without your permission, very few things can barge into your life and order you
around. The powers-that-be know this
only too well, but they don’t want you
to know it. They want you to think you
are powerless so you will give your permission without even realizing it. A self-aware human being is formidable.
