choice

Your Choice: Joy Or Suffering

Recently something became very clear to me. I have known this idea for many years but it has taken time for me to really understand the impact of this statement: We shape our experience of life moment-by-moment by our thinking. 

We all have the opportunity to live a life of joy and happiness. It is a choice we make throughout each day. If joy is not the choice then the results often included suffering. Suffering is a product of our mind running us, not us running our mind.  

The following is a summarization of the mental obstacles to living a joyous life:

What If As We Grow Older We Become More Open Instead Of More Closed?

Life’s bumps and bruises cause in all of us a variety of responses some of which are healthy and some less so.

We can take what life gives us, learn from it, expand our minds to take it in, and open our hearts to accept what is. With this kind of openness we can be wise in mind and loving and compassionate in our heart.

We can also fight change, resist what we could learn from, argue to be right, and slam the door shut to our heart if we don’t like what is going on. This reactivity causes us to close down, be angry and too fearful to engage with other hearts and minds.