Thursday, December 12, 2013

Action vs. Reaction

Somehow I came to believe that my life was mostly about just reacting to what came my way.  I had vague notions of what I thought my life should be about, but a great deal of the time, I was reacting - reacting to what was going on around me, other people, and to my emotions.

The death of Nelson Mandela this past week, called to mind the opposite of reacting to life.  He chose a life purpose - freedom for his people - and carried it into prison with him.  He certainly had plenty he could have reacted to, but  instead he chose to act in a strategic way - beginning with insisting that the prison guards call him Mr. Mandela or he refused to respond to them. 

Of course, I'm not Nelson Mandela and I don't have a big life purpose that affects the world like he did.  However, like every person, I have an opportunity to choose a life purpose and create the life I want.  Most of the obstacles I will come in contact with are within me rather than outside myself.  In order not to sleepwalk through life, just reacting to what's around me, I must take the time to consult my higher self and my higher power for direction.

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