P is for Priorities

Your choices determine the quality of your life experience. The act of making choices implies the chance or the power to select one option over another. Positive Choices are life choices elected to support your body, mind, and spirit. Negative life choices, such as doing unsatisfying work or staying in a destructive relationship, undermine your joy of living. They drain you of your precious life energy and potential. Yet, in the wake of stress and life adversities, we often forget that we do have the power to re-create our lives by Adding and Subtracting Positive and negative life choices. In fact, learning and then implementing this basic yet challenging technique empowers you to claim the life you truly desire.

Do we have total control over every life choice? No. Wanda would love to be tall and lithe and sing like Barbra Streisand. Again and again in her life she has found herself thinking, If only I were 5 foot 8 inches tall and could sing…..But, instead, she’s 5 foot 1 inch short and was shamed out of junior choir for singing off key. Is she totally helpless to her fate? No. She could wear shoes to make her look taller, and her musical friends insist that she could learn to sing if she practiced. But high heels kill her feet, and Columbia Records will probably never chase her down to cut a solo album no matter how much she practiced. So Wanda has decided to live with her limitations and forgo the uncomfortable shoes and voice lessons. She’s chosen to leverage her natural talents and let go of her “if only” fantasies.

INQUIRY Are there any “if only” life choices haunting you? If so, what are they? Are these life choices impossible or possible? If they are indeed possible life choices, are they important enough to you so that you can select one or more of them and dedicate your energy toward mastery of it? Make note of the life choices that you want to pursue and those you choose to release. As suggested in the Introduction, use you journal to answer the questions and do the exercises in these Inquiry sections.

Gratitude for who you are and what you have already manifested in your life creates a strong foundation of support while you walk through the fires of change. Ponder all the “riches” currently present in your life—your abilities and interests, people you cherish, environments that nurture you, your health, Nature’s glory, and any other manifestation you may want to acknowledge. The madness around us often eclipses our appreciation of walks on the beach, connections with people who nourish our souls, or exciting work. Resolve to thank the universe regularly for the gifts you already have.