How many decisions do you make over the course of the day?  A dozen?  A hundred?  I would suggest that we all make probably hundreds of decisions every day.  We get to choose so much more than we usually realize.  We get to choose our thoughts.   We get to choose where to focus our attention.

As an admitted control freak, I confess that for many years I tried to control people and situations and would become frustrated when I couldn’t.   Because heck, I like challenges… thrive on them in fact.  Now I’ve realized (actually *learned* after many experiences and talks with many wise people) that…

#1.  I can’t control any situation or person.  What I can do is to decide how to view a situation and how to react.   That concept is talked about in one of my favorite books by Eckhard Tolle: A New Earth .

a situation is not good or bad, it’s that framework you decide to put around it.  You decide.  I can decide my view and my reaction.  I can decide whether to focus on something, give more energy.  Or I can decide to “let it go”.   (I can’t even type those words without hearing the song from Frozen in my head, hahaha)

#2.   Every day is filled with thousands of minutes and my life becomes what I focus on in those minutes.   *I* get to decide how to live my life.   I usually have to press the reset button a couple times a year to remind myself that I get to choose and so I better choose.  Otherwise, all the distractions in life will get my attention and my life will become the sum of those distractions, instead of *i* decide to focus on.  My brother teases me about my non-biological ADD, sometimes being distracted by “shiny things”.  I think we all run the risk of being distracted.

That’s why it’s worth reminding ourselves that we have the choice.  We have decisions to make every day that will determine how we feel and how we live our lives.  You choose.