Daily Inspiration 5-29-11

Choice Week

"The self is not something ready-made, but something

in continuous formation through choice of action."

-- John Dewey

To the above quote, I would add, choice of thought or action. Thought is not always related to action, and besides, the thought comes prior to the action.

I thought I would have a theme for the week and choice is perfect. Everything starts with our choices: choices of thought, choices of reaction, choices as decision. In fact, each and every one of us are magnificent creators in that we are constantly creating our own lives, circumstances and events by choice we are either making now or have made in the past.

Today was a wonderful day. It was about 65 degrees with mostly sun, so there were some clouds. It was warm in the sun, so wearing a t-shirt was just fine if your were out and about. It was just warm enough to be comfortable and cool enough to not get hot. It was a glorious day. Later in the day, dark clouds came in and gave us a small amount of rain for a few hours. Not the kind of rain that would stop you from doing what you were already going to do. In fact, to me it felt great and I just let it drip on me and I had fun with it.

I went to the store and a guy was getting petitions signed, and I said, "isn't it a great day?" He said, "yeah, except for the rain." I kept going. I don't swim upstream. Let him have it his way. It's all good.

But, it gave me thought. You know, I used to say the same kind of thing; in fact, for most of my life I would have responded very similarly. And the thought I had is that it is purely 100% a choice that has made the difference in me. I simply decided to enjoy the weather no matter what the weather is--it is the weather. I stopped looking at or listening to forecasts, kept and umbrella in the car for downpours, and that was it.

Guess what happened then. . . the weather didn't change; it was still the weather, but I changed. The weather became enjoyable regardless of what it was. I began to see beauty and elegance in each and every day. Even if the weather caused traffic delays, I just enjoyed the moments, the clouds, the color of the sky, the breeze, every thing about it. Of course the result of this was that I became a happier person and had less reasons to be unhappy.

So, as I am out and about and hear people and their responses to the weather, I thought today that if someone wanted to be happier, making a decision about the weather would be a really good place to start. Then after mastering the weather, who knows what they could do?

Happiness Is Such A Simple Thing, And So Very Easy To Achieve. Anyone Can Do It.

Spread Some Joy Today--Being joyous is the easiest way to do that.