I Choose

Inspired by a post from Stumbling Towards Nirvana, I took on this challenge today: spend the entire day saying “I choose” before everything I do today. She says, “It’s remarkable. All this choosing, every day, and all the ways I want to transfer blame for this thing I, and I alone, do.”

I choose to take a long time getting out of bed. I choose to eat a cookie for breakfast. I choose to be mad at myself for eating a cookie for breakfast. I choose to forget my gloves and have cold hands on my walk with the dog. I choose to cut the walk short, even though the dog is giving me the puppy dog eyes for which dogs are famous.

It completely changes your attitude on the day’s events. Instead of feeling down, or like a victim of circumstance, no matter how small it might be (cold weather, for instance), you recognize your own role in your fate. And even if you’re unhappy (you have no gloves), you’re happier knowing you made that choice than feeling helpless against the cold.