Power to Choose

"Destiny is not a matter of chance,
it is a matter of choice;
it is not a thing to be waited for,
it is a thing to be achieved."
- Winston Churchill 


 I did not get to choose what happened to me.  I did not get to choose my parents.  I did not get to choose the neighborhood I grew up in.  There were many, many things I did not choose.  I felt powerless much of my life with moves, choices of others that affected me, and general life happens type of experiences.  So how could I choose my destiny?  I think the most powerful think I learned was reading Man's Search for Meaning, when Viktor Frankl.  This was one of the books recommended by KavinCoach.  At first I couldn't grasp how reading about someone living through the Holocaust could apply to me.  Here are a few quotes to ponder on:

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer.

Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.

I read Viktor's book and opened by mind and my heart to his message.  I have the power to choose everyday my attitude and what I do on a day-to-day basis.  I am blessed with the choice of who I spend my time with.  How I use my hours I am given daily.  I am learning more and more everyday what I can do with my power.