Choosing Life

Today I was in my local Jimbo's Market (a health food store) and there was a small, somewhat fragile woman seeking guidance for digestion problems. I started talking to her and she said to me, "The problem is, I just don't want to live anymore." She desperately wanted relief from her declining health and the pain it was causing her. She also said she was alone, had no one, and didn't feel she mattered anymore. I realized that she was not only physically ill, her spirit was also ill. I asked her how old she was and she said, "66." I suggested the world needed her experience and that if she were to ever get better, she needed to "Choose life." first and then find a way to share her experiences through volunteering or giving of herself. All journeys begin with a single step.

I believe that many people have a hard time choosing life. Henry David Thoreau said he believed "That men lead quiet lives of desperation." I think this is as true in the 21st century as it was in the 19th. Life can be confusing and most of us are just doing the best we can with the tools we may have in our personal toolboxes. Today, if I were to ask you this question, "Did you wake up today and choose life from your first conscious moment?" what would you say? Only you can answer that question honestly to yourself. Even if you say, "Of course I choose life" then the next question I would ask, "Do you live like you choose life?"

Tonight, as you fall asleep, think back over your day and what do you tell yourself about the day? What do you tell yourself about your circumstances when you awaken? Do you have a voice that is the voice of an explorer? Or do you, in the alternative, have a voice that is still trying to survive? You will know the answer to that question by how you feel. If you seem to be out of energy, out of joy, out of hope, out of creative solutions (and all solutions come with problems, like a coin comes with heads and tails), then you will know the true answer. Or maybe you are simply out of gas because you are not necessarily choosing YOUR life. So my friends, I invite you to your own party, to your own celebration, and I encourage you to choose your life because it is truly the only thing that belongs to you and you will take it with you wherever you go!