The Glory of Choice (and Free Will)

Our current circumstances are the result of the fruits of our choices.  

Yes, the news may say this about the President and his administration doing that, and everyone has opinions. But what are you doing with your life?  

Are you making choices to better yourself? A student called me the other day, upset and angry at the world, spouting, "There needs to be more light!"  And I said, "Then you need to become THAT light." 

I told them that being angry and negative is just adding more anger and negativity to the world. 

They heard me and applied for the Ritual Master path in the Modern Mystery School. They then chose to work on themselves to bring more light and higher vibrations to this world. We need more light, but it can only start with first bringing this light to the darkness of our hearts and daily lives.  

Are you making choices for yourself to better yourself? Turn off the TV and the radio, get off social media, and sit with YOU for a second.  What do you want?  What brings you joy? What unburdens your heart? Do you want to make your home, neighborhood, and family more peaceful? Do you want to be less stressed out? Do you want more abundance? Do you want purpose? Or do you want to enjoy tea in the morning while listening to the birds without racing your mind? Do you want to find your proper, indestructible, happy place? 

We all have a choice. Even if it is a situation in your life where you feel the odds are against you and all directions appear to be rivers of poo. YOU still have a choice.  The Choice can be to continue and sit in misery or we can choose how to face adversity. And we can also decide how we face the possibility of JOY within our actions. 

I once lived a life where I constantly chose to limit my joy. Because of my belief system, it had to be hard to produce results (as in non-enjoyable).  Now, hard work is important, but not at the expense of your health and family and living a joyful life.  We also cannot sit back and wait for things to knock on our door and for others to create happiness and abundance for us. We must take personal responsibility and action toward our goals. 

But that doesn't mean choosing the path with the most painful obstacles or the path you have deemed "responsible" is the best.  

I once chose a seemingly "responsible" path to become an attorney. I didn't choose this path because I was excited about the work.  I chose it because it was good, honest work that I knew could be well paid for, and I had the necessary skills. I knew I would be good at it if I could achieve it. So, in a way, I didn't choose to be a lawyer - I chose a path of achievement. Thus, when I completed my law license in Minnesota at 23, I looked around and said, "Is this all there is?". 

I didn't like being a lawyer. 

But it was a hard-to-achieve and honorable profession, so I dove in head first, working myself to almost a full head of grey hair and chronic fatigue by age 27.  I was well paid in a successful profession and ultimately miserable, but to the world, I was "successful."  Inside, I was full of anxiety and despair. I began drinking every single day to manage the deep-seated anxiety and dissatisfaction from the weight of other people's problems. 

So, I chose to run away from it.  I left Minnesota and ran to Seattle, Washington.  I thought life on the West Coast would be different, that lawyers there would be different, that everything would be different.  But wherever you go, THERE YOU ARE.  I was still me, and instead of choosing my joy, I kept choosing the path of what the world told me success looked like. I needed a change and began searching for a new career. 

It wasn't surprising when I found myself taking the job as a project manager. Yes, it was a new career, but it wa