For all of you who are going about your daily business without thinking, without contemplating what you are really doing, saying, ingesting, this is for you. It is critical to stop being mindless in what we are doing and to start being aware of the privilege of choice. We often are not aware of our embarrassment of riches of choice until it is too late.
Of course I see this daily in hospice. I see that many of us, by the consequences of our own choices, have ended up somewhere where we didn’t intend to be. We intended to be healthy, happy, at peace with ourselves and with our loved ones; and instead we are debilitated and dying, miserable, stuck, and incapable of rectifying the imbalances in our world. We make all sorts of poor choices: poor choices in our food and drink; poor choices in whom we give our love and energy to; poor choices in how we console and try to heal ourselves; poor choices in allowing ourselves to succumb to our addictions. And these choices, through no real fault of our ignorant selves, bring us to disaster.
If only we could turn back time, and see the richness of choice that once existed before us. If only we could understand, in our first-world position, how formidable choices we have are. We are lucky to have choices at certain moments in time, this is the true privilege of choice. And it is only by recognizing that we are being blessed with this privilege, by being truly grateful for the options that are given to us, by being open to seeing and receiving what often lies in front of us, that we come to make the best choice. It’s only in being appreciative that we begin to see choice exists and that we should be making the highest choice to honor that appreciation. Anything less than the highest, godliest choice towards ourselves and others, will inevitably limit us more and more in the future - to a point where one day, no further choices exist.
The privilege of choice is a great gift. Treat it as such. Life is short and can be rendered shorter by our own unassuming and cavalier actions. Make your choices deliberate. Every day think about what your are saying, doing, imbibing and ingesting in mind, body, and spirit. If you do this you will maximize your ability to keep more options open. And you will be proud of having honored the divinity given to you by God with the decisions you made.
Dedicated to TW
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