Fresh Choice

It is our choices, Harry, 

that show us what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

~ Albus Dumbledore

Choice is the ultimate expression of consciousness.  

When you feel like there is no choice, you are in a contracted state of awareness.  In other words, any time you think or feel like there is a problem - when you try to prevent, force or control something - you are in a contracted state of awareness, you have lost sight of choice.  

Giving up the right to choose is quite ordinary.  No bigs. 

For almost a week I have been regularly confronted by my resistance to my desk job.  As I shared yesterday, I have a devotion to practice that some people confuse with a mental tick.   So, today I was practicing bringing my best self forward by singing the data I was entering.  That was helpful, actually.  Time passed, resistance resurfaced.  I turned to the right and sighed.  I felt tightness in my jaw and I decided to take a conscious breath.  Holy crap!  I am breathing.  

I took another breath.  

In a flash, I went from resistance to gratitude. I am practicing yoga!

Before I chose to breathe, I was regarding my job as a problem.  I was in a contracted state of awareness.  Simply by making the choice to give conscious awareness to my breath, my world opened up. 

Choice is always present.  As Viktor Frankl said, no matter the circumstance, we can choose our attitude.  And, in any circumstance we can choose where to place our attention:  
fear       love
forcing       allowing
protecting   sharing 
scarcity     abundance
separation    connection
known       new
survival     creation
thinking    experience
contraction    expansion

Singing was cool, but it didn't provide the freedom that breathing did.  I wonder if there are degrees of choice.  Like, if we are stuck in a rut it might be easier to focus on choosing to do one thing or another - choosing to sing rather than sit quietly. And maybe that kind of choice makes it possible to make a more powerful choice - choosing to pay attention to experience, a few fresh breaths, rather than thinking.  

Philosophy I'm not sure I understood
At my parents' house for dinner tonight, Emma said, "Sometimes mom says things to me and I understand only a few words but I just make up the rest and it works out."  This was my exact experience with an undergraduate philosophy course.  We studied several Europeans but the one I remember is Hegel and what he had to say regarding "ought."  I am not even remotely confident I got the gist of what Hegel wanted to communicate.  Like Emma, I took the words I understood and made up the rest:  
There are so many things we don't understand.  There are questions upon questions about the nature of reality and existence.  With no definite answers, we are best guided by choices that cause us to elevate our experience.  

You are a miracle.  
You don't know otherwise.  You can't possibly have proof that you are anything other than a specific expression of the love, trust and wisdom of the entire Universe. 
Remember who you are. 
Don't compromise yourself.