The Essential Art of Choice

Why our decisions matter

What makes us choose one thing over another? How do we decide anything when constantly bombarded by a multitude of choices every day?

Does making one choice over another, whether minute or substantial, have a direct influence on our personhood?

I believe it does, and that choice is an improbable path that leads us away and then back to the self.

In my life, I can directly pinpoint instances where my choices rippled out and expanded into decades upon decades of both positive and negative effects.

Take, for example, my decision to turn left instead of right at that fateful stop sign that would result in a life-changing and life-threatening car accident. Or a later decision to embrace the road less traveled and move to Washington D.C. alone, at just 22 years old, in the pursuit of meaning and achievement.

We all can identify choices that span from the seemingly inconsequential to those of great significance.

Choice matters, and whether it’s the decision to have two cups of coffee in the morning or the decision to move across the country and create a new home, our choices have power and consequences.

From the laborious to the trivial, we can never fully predict what unforeseeable outcomes will shape and influence our lives. The paradox of choice is that there will always be multiple causations that stem from our decisions, similar to a butterfly effect where choice results in present-day reality.

In every instance of choice, there will always be parallel possibilities. This isn’t missing out; it’s the power and beauty of choice.

The essential art of choice calls upon the delicate realization of empowerment.

Let today be a conscious dedication to the inherent value of choice, your choice. Indeed, we don’t always choose every experience that befalls us, but the essential nature of what we choose to experience can become a veritable force of nature, a powerful path that we each create moment by moment.

Our very existence is dependant on where our focus lies and the words we choose to speak.

The way we treat others and ourselves is dynamic and cyclical, our thoughts and actions intricately are interwoven in a tapestry of the soul.

Ultimately, we can re-write our own story; the past isn’t set in stone but is simply our current conception of a previous moment in time, gone with the progression of the present and the allure of the future.

It is our indisputable and irrepealable privilege to continually begin anew. One moment, one day at a time, we can recreate and reimagine a kaleidoscope of possibilities.

That’s what choice is all about. It’s the power at any moment to change, transform, and become a more actualized version of ourselves, brimming with the effervescent promise of fulfillment.

However certain we may be that most situations are by choice, not every situation or instance is that transparent. Most of us would rather not experience pain, shame, and suffering. This is where the lens of perspective gives us an understanding of how our viewpoint shapes the outcome.

Undoubtedly we know that the past can affect certain aspects of our future, but how we choose to experience the world is ultimately up to us.

We decide what we hang onto and what is ultimately released. We make the choice to speak up or stay silent in the grand scheme of life.

Choice is neither wrong nor right; it simply is a decision, of which there are many in the sequential chronicle of life.

The pursuit of progress and choice is steeped in impermanence. If we are to continue traveling along the winding road of the self, we must continually work to grow, expand, and love.

It’s normal to have doubts. This is a normal part of our existence. Few things in life are certain and even that is up for interpretation.

It is with this convexity that we feel the fear, experience the doubt, and can then choose to relinquish that which would only amplify our existing worries and limit our potential.

It’s never too late to reshape and reimagine the self. We are complex beings and it is only from a place of compassion and understanding that we find ourselves once again on the road home, back to our true selves through the intrepid power of choice.