Free to Choose...

One of the first people I met when I started my nursing career was Ms. Loresa Crawford. She was a tough as nails, no nonsense night nurse who taught me how to treat a patient that has had too much morphine, how to pair chicken and waffles for the perfect meal, and most importantly she taught me about the power of choice. I once asked her how she maintained her positive attitude and most importantly how she managed to continue to look 20 years younger than she actually is. She told me "no one commands my day but me." She explained to me that we cannot chose what happens in our life, we can only chose how we react to it, that we are the product of all of our choices. It is easy to focus on what is happening in our day to day and forget that our life is full of choices. It's easy to feel stuck and get focused on the things we feel we "have to" do but the truth is we are free to make choices every day. I must borrow from one of my favorite books Life's Greatest Lessons, 20 Things That Matter by Hal Urban to highlight our freedom of choice, remember we are free to choose...

"We're free to choose our character-the type of persons we become. We can allow ourselves to be molded by others and our environment, or we can commit ourselves to self-development. We can become less than we're capable of, or we can become all we are capable of.

We're free to choose our values. We can let the media tell us what's important, or we an decide for ourselves. We can base our standards on what others are doing, or we can base them and what we know is right and good. 

We're free to choose how to treat other people. We can put them down, or lift them up. We can be self-centered and inconsiderate, or we can be respectful, kind and helpful. 

We're free to choose how to handle adversity. We can allow ourselves to be crushed, to give up, and to feel sorry for ourselves. Or we can choose to look for a source of strength and persevere, and to make the most out of what life deals us. 

We're free to choose how much we'll learn. We can look upon learning as an unpleasant duty or as a great opportunity for entering ourselves. We can be closed-minded or open-minded; we can be stagnant, or we can grow. 

We're free to choose what we'll accomplish in life. We can allow our circumstances or other people to determine what we make of ourselves, or we can choose our own directions and goals. We can be undisciplined and lazy or we can be self-disciplined and hardworking. 

We're free to choose our own belief system. We can ignore our spiritual nature, or we can accept it as an important dimension of life. 

We're free to choose our own purpose. We can wonder aimlessly, or we can search for a meaning in life, and then live according to it. We can live to please only ourselves, or we can find a cause that's greater, one that helps us understand and appreciate life more fully. 

We're free to choose our attitude regardless of circumstances." 

And lastly, from the book of me, we are free to choose who we love and how we love them, how we give love and how we receive love; we are free to love by choice and not by chance.

What will you choose today?