Life – The Sum of Your Choices
This is a guest post by Ashwani Kumar from Motivational Thoughts For You.com.
We all have to make choices in life. What is a choice in life you have to make?
Smith: Why, Mr. Anderson, why, why? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Why do you persist?!
Neo: Because I choose to.
Your life is an amalgamation of the choices you make. From the big ones like career, marriage which give direction to your life to the small ones which make up your everyday activities, choices make our life.
Power of choices: Choice is a very powerful weapon in the human arsenal. From the moment you get up until the moment you go to bed life is all about choices. Big or small, important or insignificant we are making choices all the time. From what to wear, to which road to take to what to have for dinner, choices constitute an integral part of our lives.
Your present situation: Where you are today is because of the choices you made in the past. If you ended up in a place that you do not like it’s because you made the wrong choices, you have all the power to get out of such a situation. You need to make the right choices and make a conscious decision to change.
Choices and Circumstances: Though conditions and circumstances influence our lives, what we do when faced with situations beyond our control is a choice left to us. At times life is not fair to us, bad things happen, but what you do under such conditions is completely up to you.
You can cry, curse and say that life is unfair or try to get out of it, if not pick up the pieces and move on. No matter what the situation is or how bad the circumstances you have a choice to become their slave or enslave them.
Choosing to Succeed: To succeed at any cost, to never give up until you reach the goal, to persist until you reach the end is simply a choice. To get up every time you fall, to push hard is all a choice. Going for success even after failure is a choice, getting off your butt and working your ass off until you reach your goal is a choice.
Getting up in the morning and working out even when the bed and blanket seem comforting and inviting is a choice. All these are difficult choices, but once made, they make your life easy.
Excellence: Excellence is a choice. Holding on to the highest ideals, expecting more from you than anyone else, working when everything seems to be lost, pushing hard even when everyone around you has given up, all these are choices that can make anyone great.
Happiness: Even happiness is a choice. No matter where you are or what you do you can choose to be happy. You can be happy this very instant. Even the ideal we all aspire for greatness; it’s also a choice. Courage is also a choice.
Many of the choices we make in life are small, but few are life changing have far-reaching consequences. Whatever the decision make a conscious choice, do not live life on auto pilot preferring the routine and mundane rather than taking the pain of thinking through the possibilities and making the right choices.
Making your own choices: Yes, making choices is very difficult for many of us, but it’s much better to live life by your choices rather than others plans and decisions. Do not let others choose for you. It will make you weak and dependent.
In the long run it will cripple your life. Start making conscious choices, start from the very small and go on to making big choices. Even if you get it wrong for the first few times, keep at it. Only through a number of wrong ones can you learn to make the correct choices.
Choices make your future: Your life so far has been the result of your choices. Even if you refute it and do not accept the fact your life is a consequence of your choices made knowingly or otherwise.
This shows that whatever choices you make now can influence your future. Listen to your heart; it knows what is good for you, it knows the correct way, listen to it before making any choices. If you lose or give up the freedom to choose then you are giving up the power over your life.
Choice precedes change. When you are not happy with your life, with the way things are,you need to make a choice, a decision to change. Only then can change happen.
Choices and life: If you want to lead a good life then you need to make a lot of good choices. You must learn how to choose, at times based on instinct at times based on rational thinking and at times based on good and sound advice. But you must make your choices.
It’s your life, making the right choices is your duty and your right. So, choose wisely.
Ashwani Kumar:
Motivational thoughts for you – Motivational Thoughts For You.com is all about motivating you, inspiring you, helping you gain a more positive outlook on life. It’s a blog about courage, about hope, about all the qualities that make a successful life. It is a blog about life itself.
Your life choices will define your life experience. Don’t be afraid to choose because to not choose is still a choice.
Category: Personal/ Spiritual Growth
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This is so comprehensive it's amazing Ashwani. I chuckled to myself reading about the choice of waking up in the morning to work out and leaving my warm bed. Didn't realise just how much is up to the choices I make. It's true when we really listen to our hearts great things happen. Today I choose happiness!
VeehCirra
Hey VehCirra,
Indeed happiness is also a choice:), its sad that we dont make this choice very often. Even the litlle, insignificant things we do in life are the choices we make. Good luck with them :)
i strongly believe in what you said Ashwani
we are not helpless and there is nothing called luck
its all about our choices
thank you for the motivating post
2knowmyself
You are welcome. There is nothing called luck, even if there was such a thing, its influence on you should be minimal Our lives are defined by our choices rather than luck and circumstances.
Hi Ashwani,
I have for a long time also felt that success is indeed a choice. We live in a world plentiful with substance to make for a variety of choices.
There are so many ways to elicit changes and even just a minute adjustment can make a tremendous difference in life's trajectory. Just look at how this is true in things like sport. I 2 degree change in one's golf swing can be the difference which separates the pros from the amateurs.
What I've always found to be true is that hunger isn't enough to make a wo/man creative enough to find something to eat. Hunger is never enough. You have to be hungry enough to move yourself into action that will allow you to do something about it. It all begins with the choice!
This was very enjoyable to read!
Cat Alexandra
catalex
Hey Cat Alexandra,
Wow, i did not know that a 12 degree change in swing can make so much difference. Perhaps it is true that in life litlle things matter the most. Yes hunger is never enough, you need to have more than hunger, you need to have a burning desire, a will to move yourself. When you have these, action follows naturally.
This is a great article!
Congratulations Ashwani! I totally agree with your points here. And, sometimes it is so hard to take choices that we prefer stay where we are because of fear even if we are not satisfied.
Our life is a result of our choices and your life is a result of your choices! I believe so much in that principle that I gave that name to my blog :)
Thank you for sharing with us this inspiring post. You remind me that I made the good choice :)
Lenia
Lenia
Hey Lenia,
Thank you. Sometimes it is hard to make choices, it is hard to move out of our comfort zone but we must make choices. In the face of fear, in the face of uncertainities and difficulties we must risk making choices and stand by them rather than staying in our present situation
Such a nice post, it's really useful to move in the direction of success. I really like your infographic, I've just saved it and Im gonna print it and hang it on my wall to get some inspiration from it every day.
Catwoman
Thanks a lot. Happy to have inspired you. There are more infographics on my blog. Go ahead and use them for inspiration
Hi Ashwani:
There is a book I once read by Alan Cohen, Joy is my Compass, where he mentions that every choice that he has difficulty deciding what to do, he ops for the option that will lead to the most joy. I found that very enlightening. Although, sometimes the choice with more joy is not always evident at first :), it is still a great way to look at making choices.
- Wendy
visionology2
Hey Wendy,
Thanks for the comment. To a very good extent it is true that the choices we make are either to feel joyous and happy or to avoid pain
Hi Ashwini and Justin,
It is so true. we are the sum of our choices. If you look around you and see what is around you, you see things. Your house or apartment, your chair, your table, ... everything has started with a choice. We only have to be reminded about it. Being successful, excellent and happy. We can choose for it.
Thanks for the reminder
marc van der Linden :You are welcome. Yes indeed .from the chairs,house,car yo buy to success,happiness and excellence its all a choice.
Hi Ashwini and Justin,
This is an excellent reminder of how important the choices we make in life are. Sometimes people will blame their circumstances on other people, things and so on. By doing so, people give up responsibility. In reality, they are choosing to take such a dis-empowered position, when they could have chosen to take responsibility for themselves instead.
Hi Hiten,
Rightly said. when you blame circumstances and other people for all the things that happen in your life you give away both power and responsibility. The power over your life, to take it the way you want and the responsibility for your thoughts and actions.
Love the lead-in to this post, my friend. It's really powerful when we realize that the power to choose always lies within our grasp!
Hi Steve,
Happy that you liked the post. The power to choose always lies within our grasp. When we realize this fact life becomes simpler,efficient and more powerful
Hey justin mazza@ashwani !
Great post, Ahswani! People go through life everyday, believing they have no control over their current circumstances. That thought alone keeps them getting the same exact result; which only further drills into their belief system that they don't have any choice but to endure the life they've been dealt. How do I know? Well, I used to be one of those people. A constant complainer and was doing nothing to change the situation. But one day, I made a choice to do things differently than I'd normally went about doing things for most of my life. That choice has continued to make various doors to be opened for me, a host of new like-minded people to be bought into my life, and finding something that I'm absolutely passionate about. It all began with making a choice. Nothing in life ever changes until a choice is made. Absolutely! Great stuff and an awesome read! Thanks for sharing! :)
Hey Deeone,
Nice to hear your story, its great that you went from complaining to changing. True, nothing in life changes unless we make a choice. To change is a choice. Good luck :)
Nice one, Ashwani. Choices are what make our lives. Not circumstances and we control what we want. You hit the nail on the head with this one. Good job.
Hi Dwayne,Yes indeed, choices make our life. Where we are now is the result of our choices and to know where our life is heading all we need to look at is the choices that we are making every day. Thanks for the comment :)
