Choice

I was sitting in my kitchen this morning with my mother, Mama Dee. We were having one of our conversations where we share our understanding of things with each other. This is something that we do from time to time as a way to honor and support each other’s growth. Sometimes we talk about the good old days. Sometimes it is a discussion around how we got through some of our most difficult challenges in life. Sometimes we just encourage each other. Today we talked about choice.

We discussed how our choices shape us, how we are walking embodiments of our choices. One of the forces that help to define us as being human, is our ability to choose. We spoke about how choice is such a powerful entity that even the thought of having it compromised, threatened or taken away can leave us disoriented with fear. Whenever I am feeling powerless in a situation, I remind my myself that we always have choices no matter what situations we are faced with, I don’t believe that any situation completely removes my choice. It isn’t difficult to become persuaded into thinking that somehow our freedom to choose can be tampered with. What I find in myself, is that the true fear is when I refuse to take responsibility and make peace with the gift of choice.

In our society, we’ve become comfortable with lives that lack spontaneity and creativity. We have learned to value routine and mindlessness over intuition and insight. Our rhythm of living and understanding is no longer aligned with nature, it is dictated by and obedient to the perceived power of the masses through an out of balance and unrealistic reliance on media and rhetoric. The thing is, we awake with the blessing of a new day, and we continue to choose this mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical insanity repeatedly. We decide to be victims of our choices rather than using the power of them to evolve us. Imagine the world we would live in if we just chose to change the way we understand this seemingly insignificant, yet powerful life force of choice.