Empowering Choice from Childhood

So often, I see people operate as if they had no choice. I wonder: when do I do that, without being aware of it? I do believe that I always have some choice. I can't fully choose what happens to me or around me, though I can create a life in which I am less often faced with undesirable impacts from others choices. Always, I can choose how I respond...even if what comes first is a from-the-navel reaction, rather than a chosen response. In those cases I can, at least, choose to clean up any mess I made and apologize.

So where does it come from, this belief that there is no choice?

Trust, forgiveness and layers of flavor

Dabbling in creating my own recipes, using tidbits of knowledge absorbed from watching cooking shows of all kinds, has me thinking about "layers of flavor." This phrase, uttered often by celebrity chefs, has pushed me to really think about building my food in layers, balancing sweet, salty, bitter and sour. This morning, I'm thinking about the layers of these flavors in my life.

Inflicted, as I am, with relentless optimism and positivism, I have tended too often to focus all my attention on the sweetness in my life, occasionally acknowledging the mildly salty that can be easily appreciated, but entirely ignoring the bitter and the sour. I have pushed these life flavors aside or buried them deeply in my subconscious. I go beyond Scarlett's "I'll think about that tomorrow," to a pattern of striving to never think about them. Of course I am not successful in this submersion strategy; the bitter memories and sour stories always bob to the surface, usually in the wee hours. Ripened now to an overblown state, they become indigestible self-recrimination; my heart burns with grief and shame.

Welcome!

Here's the truth: all you need for a successful life full of purpose and joy is already within you. You were born with every asset required for great relationships, an effective and productive work life, and spiritual completion.

And, yet, you may have troubled or broken relationships, be bored and unproductive, and feel empty and unconnected to the miracle of life. Maybe those essential assets haven't yet received the nurture they require to illuminate the path to the life you want. You were born perfect, but your perfection may be lost beneath a scrap heap of life experiences.

Virtually all the dissatisfactions that plague our adult relationships result from patterns that grew in early childhood. And they can be remade by unearthing wisdom from your childhood: 7 Childhood Treasures® that lie within you, buried and undeveloped. I help you to find the rough ores within, locate and reveal their subtle facets, and polish them to brilliant, blazing gemstones. Your birthright—a treasure chest of assets—waits for you, along with a successful life full of purpose and joy.

Choice and Community

Living in a community—whether of friends, family members or co-workers—requires that I have the ability to find common ground. Whenever I am in a group of two or more, there is diversity; there are diverse interests and ideas. I want something and every other person wants something, too; often, something different from what I want. And each person in a community chooses how to meet those needs. Choice is essential tool for living in community.