Be honest. What are you a slave to? What, in your life, has more control of you than you do of it?
We’ve all got something, or a number of things. And it seems that the more we try to deny that anything has mastery over us, the more those things enslave us.
It’s another one of those wonderful paradoxes of life.
And doesn’t that just chafe your fanny? I know it makes me crazy mad sometimes. I hate that I would allow anything else to be the boss of me.
Come on. I’m an independent individual aren’t I? I make up my own mind, don’t I? I choose for myself, damn it! But do I really?
When we’re on auto-pilot, something else is really doing the choosing for us. Old beliefs, patterns, habits – that’s what’s doing the choosing.
We may rationalize that it’s us but if we’re really truthful, would we make those same choices? Especially when they so often have such negative consequences?
Sad truth is that we’re all slaves to something, until we’re not. The only escape seems to involve living every moment fully in the present moment, aware of every choice we’re making and why we’re making it. And just being honest with ourselves.
Choosing consciously, not from habit, not for comfort and familiarity, not to appease our emotions or quiet our anxious thoughts, but consciously, in the moment on behalf of our own best interests.
Freedom requires a conscious choice. If we’re choosing unconsciously, we’re most likely choosing slavery. In my experience so far, consciousness is the only route to real freedom.
Who’s doing the choosing for you today?