By Danya Keeley

“The choices we make, not the chances we take, determine our destiny” – unknown author.

Does our destiny depend on outer chances? Are we destined for repetition of the same experience or outcome day after day and year after year? No, no, no, no, no, no!

The answer is no.

We created the life we have now and we have the ability to recreate our life over and over via the choices we make.

We are not obligated to follow or simply accept what appears in front of us. Nor are we fated to repeat our historic behavior or even the consequences of former choices. Our past is not inescapable. We are not governed by the opinions, good or bad, from others. We are not caged by conditions or traditions which do not serve us any longer. We can fall into the trap of believing they are factors beyond our choice, but ultimately these factors do not shape our lives: we do!

We determine our future by the choices we make--the choices we make every day.

Most of us make hundreds of choices in a single day. For instance, we choose what we wear, what we eat, what we drink, who we associate with, our preferred entertainment, or who we will vote for, and so on.

Each choice we make produces a specific result. The results of our choices accumulate as our day progresses. The natural outcome of these accumulated results is what eventually shapes our day. Therefore, certain repetitive choices made daily begin to mold and determine our future.

Our ability to choose is an incredible faculty.

However, the majority of us neglects our right to conscious choice and rarely grasp or understand the magnificent power of choice we have in our life. True choice is a light in the darkness; an illumination which shows us the way toward freedom from the circumstances in our lives that continue to make us feeling small, insecure and unhappy.

Unfortunately, we historically choose chance over freedom and predictability over liberation. This type of choice is habitual, almost like a default mechanism. We use the same criteria and the same imagined certainty for the basis of our choosing.

Therefore, we tend to stay hunkered down in the familiar while stealing a glance or two at our possibilities through awe, longing and more than a little suspicion.

Oddly, we seem to prefer our well-known daily environment, even if we feel stuck or stifled. We favor predictability for its imagined sense of security or safety, even if it squelches our potential and keeps us malnourished

Essentially, we are afraid to let go. Let go of what appears to be predictable: even if these surroundings pinch and cage us in a negative mind-set.

Our ‘stuck’ place is a territory we know like the back of our hand and we usually believe it offers us a certain sense of power and control over our own lives.

Of course, we all recognize this as a choice, but if we choose to settle in habituation, we will never know or experience the power and beauty of true conscious choice.

Conscious choices are those we make which do not allow fear to be one of the deciding factors. (Please understand we not talking about decisions which involve real danger, we are speaking of the arbitrary and imagined fears which prevent us from moving in a healthy direction in our life.)

Real authentic choice or conscious choice is not dependent on others’ opinion, historic behavior or even our former habitual criteria. Conscious choice is tuning into what is essentially our inner compass and allowing our decisions to arise from within ourselves.

What we often fail to notice is, most authentic choice is an invitation to step out of our comfort zone. The step which can sometimes seem like a gigantic leap, a leap into the abyss, but in truth, it is simply a step towards freedom. This is a freedom from our current trend of choices, which cannot and will not produce the future we want or the destiny we deserve.

Choice is always before us. Every day we might feel bombarded with possibilities and the pressure to make choices. However, we no longer need to fall back on the familiar ways of making decisions, now we have the opportunity to practice and explore the process of conscious choice.

Trust the flame within: it's been waiting to illuminate the way.

Remember….it is in you to succeed.

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