You've read them--the short pieces that tell you that what you do today is your choice, and the way you feel when you go to bed tonight is the result of how you've acted--the choices you've made when you've said things to people, when you've done things for or to others, when you've overeaten or deprived yourself of necessary nutrients.  We all make choices, all day, every day.  Those choices don't necessarily determine who we are as people, but they do go a long way towards determining how others see us.  And they definitely contribute greatly to how we see ourselves.

What you do today is your choice.  Do you make the sarcastic comment about the person you don't care for, or do you hold your tongue?  Even if the person "deserves" the comment, ask yourself this:  does the comment say more about you or about the other person?

Are you tempted to do something dishonest?  One of my hard and fast rules is to ask myself if I'll be afraid of getting caught (or ashamed to admit) having done a particular thing.  If the answer is yes, then I won't do it, no matter what the short-term consequences.

Do you want to become healthier?  Then today you choose whether or not you'll go for a long walk, whether you'll eat the food loaded with fat and calories,  whether you'll skip the cake in favor of a piece of fruit.

Today you choose whether to greet the grumpy, rude person with a smile and a warm hello, or to return the grumpiness and rudeness.

Today you choose whether or not to start that novel or poem or story or song that you've been wanting to write.  You won't finish it today, but if you write a line a day of a poem, in a month or less, you'll have an entire poem.  If you write a paragraph a day, you can have a short story in a few weeks, or a chapter of your novel.

Why do most people NOT choose to be constructive and to work towards attainable goals?  Most of my students let their fears control their choices--they fear failure and pain, so if they never take a risk, they'll never feel the pain.  Unfortunately, this logic is flawed.  If you have a new idea at work and you present it, it may be accepted or rejected.  If it's accepted, the risk was worthwhile, right?

But if it's rejected, the risk was still worthwhile.  People now know that you have ideas, and that you're willing to present them to try to help out others.  You also feel better about yourself for having had the idea and for having presented it.

The other option is to choose not to present it.  Then no one knows that you even have an idea, and you never know what might have happened had you presented it.

It's easier than it sounds.  You have a conscience--let it be your guide to your choices.  You know inside which are the right things to do and which aren't.  If you're in gray area, get advice from someone you respect; never get advice from someone you don't respect.  Make your choices based on the idea of the person you want to be, the person you want to show to the rest of the world.  If you want people to see an honest, loving, caring, compassionate person when they look at you, then make choices that reflect those qualities.  If you want people to see a selfish, insensitive, uncaring, rude person, then make choices that reflect those qualities.

If you allow your conscience to be your guide in choosing, life will take care of you.  Trust it.

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