"It's not what happens to you; it's what you do about it that makes the difference."
This quote from W. Mitchell shows the basis of the truly amazing power of human choice. No matter what situation you're in, you have the power to choose how you approach it, how you handle it, how you let it affect you. This is the greatest gift you have ever been given.
You exercise this great power every day, although few people realize that they are doing so, and as such never utilize this ability to its full potential. Every morning when you get up, do you choose to wake up happy and determined to make the day a great one, or do you choose to be affected by the negative in the world around you and even add to it yourself? How do you spend your evenings? Do you sit in front of the TV every night? Do you actively do things with your family? Do you work late to further your career? Do you put action into your dreams and make them reality?
What it all comes down to is you and how you approach each situation. You choose how you approach things, whether it's a choice of TV or work, or a time when it seems like you have much less of a choice such as dealing with bad situation that you don't want to be in.
For example, you may say " I didn't choose to have a car accident. I didn't want to get laid off when our plant closed. I didn't choose to have my house start on fire." Such things happen in this world that may seem beyond our control. All that it really is, though, is just not seeing or sometimes not being able to see the consequences of a choice.
Maybe you didn't know that a drunk driver would come in and t-bone your car when you were driving home late from your friend's house. However, you did know that such an event was possible when you went home late, especially around bar time.
Maybe you didn't know that your plant was going to close and that you would be laid off because of it. You knew that your company wasn't doing the greatest and that something may happen, though. Of course, it would never happen to your plant, never your plant, so why should you find a new job before you really needed one?
Maybe you didn't realize that the fire would start in the wall with some faulty wiring, but you did know it was an old house that probably needed things checked out.
Each of these situations could have been prevented, some more reasonably then others, but prevented none-the-less. Yet even if you didn't make the choice to prevent these things, you could have still chosen how you reacted to them.
You can choose with the accident to go into hysterics, or you can choose to do everything possible to make sure that everyone is okay and that the police and ambulance are on their way.
You can choose with the layoff to be mad at the company and dwell on how bad your life is, or you can choose to look at this as an opportunity to get a better job and to improve yourself.
You can choose with the fire to panic and die in the flames, or you can choose to make sure everyone gets out okay and to be the strength others need while rebuilding.
It is ultimately your decision on how you choose to approach things. Each choice leads to yet another choice. You control your life by the choices you make. Become aware of this and use this power to make your life better each day. If you stay ignorant of it, you'll become a victim of your own choices and you'll just follow the path of least resistance.
"Any change, any loss, does not make us victims. Others can shake you, surprise you, disappoint you, but they can't prevent you from acting, from taking the situation you're presented with and moving on. No matter where you are in life, no matter what your situation, you can always do something. You always have a choice and the choice can be power." - anonymous
Remember that no matter what happens in your life, you always have a choice. Make it the right one.
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Nick Schultz lives with his son in Wisconsin, USA. He believes in the philosophy of "To get what you want, help enough other people get what they want" and runs a daily inspirational quote website at http://www.wealthtreeseeds.com .
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