“Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.”
– John C. Maxwell
“Sometimes it’s the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.”
– Keri Russell
“Choice is the most powerful tool we have. Everything boils down to choice. We exist in a field of infinite possibilities. Every choice we make shuts an infinite number of doors and opens an infinite number of doors. At any point we can change the direction of our lives by a simple choice. It is all in our hands, our minds, and our minds.”
BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
March 30, 2019
Life, as a journey is a notion that has always been incredibly fascinating to me for myriad reasons. Each of us as individuals is not only the main protagonist in our own story, but we are taking unique path towards whatever destination we are headed towards. Those destinations will be laden with curious circumstances, and these circumstances can become the foundation for our each and every step, or they can serve to steer us from our current path.
Yet, our bearing is always our bearing – as individuals. Where you go is your choice and only yours. The totality of your life when its all said and done will be a confluence of all the choices you make. These choices will reverberate in countless ways, with countless people and spawn countless circumstances. The aggregate of all of this will ultimately dictate what your story will become.
Life is an interesting journey, for you never know what obstacles you will face and overcome, what other individuals you will meet on your journey, and where your road will ultimately lead. The roads are many, and the choices more so.
On this journey, as individuals, we are all headed somewhere. But where? Each of our paths is so wonderful, that nobody else in the breadth and scope of history will take the same path. Read that again. That’s a very intriguing proposition, for it means all of us take a path that’s so unique, that nobody could ever mirror it.
Could individuals take the same steps we take, or that others have taken? Surely. But that will never be a one-to-one correlation to ever single step you take, every single choice you choose.
If you’re going to pave a path nobody has ever paved, and it was your ultimate path, what would it be? Where would you go? What would you do? What will you accomplish? Have you thought about it? It’s something to ponder deeply.
In life, no path is linear, but choices all connect. Every circumstance, every choice, every moment, every breath, is a dot. The displacement of these dots upon the canvas of life connect to paint an incredible picture, the picture you make with your own life. This picture is the very manifestation of your consciousness, of your being, of everything you have ever been, are, and will be. These dots, these moments, all couple with each other because life is seamless, and in that seamlessness is where we can get caught up in the moments.
Something else that operates seamlessly is water. Water is always operating like a gong, holding full potential in its totality. The same way one strike upon a gong will make it reverberate throughout, one drop of water will reverberate throughout a ponder for instance, and affect it greatly. Your life as an individual is no different. One choice has the power to change not only your life but that of others. That’s incredible power, something that’s not oft-ruminated upon.
In that sense, your choices become waves – a manifestation of an instance that travels to its destination. And just like waves will ultimately travel to a destination, your choices will ultimately travel to an endpoint, wherever that will be.
One thing waves teach us is that, if we don’t keep our balance, we will get swept by them. As someone who almost drowned twice, I was taught not to fear the waves, but become one with them. Swimming wasn’t the problem, it was the fear of drowning. We as individuals need to be cognizant that waves will do what they always do, and as such, we individuals need to respond in kind: do what we can do.
Knowing that there are options when one is caught in such a dilemma, I had choices to make if ever the moment came where I was being swept by a riptide, and came they did after the first instance. When I responded in these circumstances in fear, I was swept in pure terror and let’s call it sheer luck why I ultimately made it. When I realized that when that circumstance happens, being swept by the waves, if you don’t give into fear, then you have total control and you can adjust accordingly, like water.
Water always adjust according to nature, according to the circumstances. Water can even transform into something else under the right circumstances. Individuals are no different. Individuals can – and do – transform at certain times in life. But those transformations usually seem to happen under the most extreme pressures – just like diamonds are created. Or, as in my case, possibly drowning.
When the riptide has it’s name woven in water and it comes after you, you can’t give into fears because it’ll be fear that ultimately sweeps over you. This has born itself out in my life countless times, not just in the possibility of drowning.
It’s become known to me that when my choices are based out of fear, many of my worst circumstances I could ever imagine took place, including those possible drowning incidents. But if I responded with balance, full control of all my being, I realized that things that seemed like obstacles were merely speedbumps, and thing that were real obstacles were easier to either overcome or sidestep.
Why does this matter? Because on our journey, we will face myriad obstacles. Some obstacles are problematic, and some just seem so. As someone who used to be afraid of dark (actually, if we are to be 100% accurate, I was terrified of it. Yes, don’t laugh, it’s the truth) I used to hate sleeping in the dark. If any of you know me or have read some of my writing though, I write about darkness a lot and have for well over twenty years.
How could I write about darkness so much if I hated darkness with the totality of my being? Because the darkness itself does nothing. My perception of it was what brought about fear and dis-ease within me. I’m not saying that evil doesn’t exist, please don’t misunderstand me. I’m just talking about how our minds – my mind in this particular example – can be afraid of things that are merely shadows, and how those things can really take its toll on us at times. At least that has been the case within my life.
Realizing the disparity between the truth and perception, I became empowered in seeing circumstances for what they are, and was better able to keep balance much better, which has certainly led to an increase in quality of life. This has all made my personal journey more significant, rather than what it was over a decade ago because I was letting the tide control my bearing rather than my choices – my choices at the being level, at the level of consciousness. And it is the being level – where your consciousness resides – that calls the shots, that holds the most power within your life.
You might be thinking, but how can we make choices from different parts of our being?
Ponder this, and ponder this carefully please for it has an incredible bearing on what follows: when you are driving anywhere, and it’s a long drive, doesn’t your mind – at times – end up drifting to such an extent, that you don’t even remember part of your journey? We have all gone through this.
Now I ask you, who is making that choice? State differently, what part of your being is making that choice? Is it you, at the being level? Or is it the you when the auto-pilot which engages that makes choices seamlessly, and yet, not thoughtfully? Only you can answer that question.
This is relevant because much of our lives – mine included – can be lived in autopilot mode. This has been something I think about a lot, because paying attention to 30+ poker tables simultaneously, you almost engage in autopilot play by default, just like in life. In that sense, we as individuals end up operating like machines, instead of operating with thoughtfully carried out choices, as beings of reason.
It is within the focus that only resides within our being that our best choices stem from. And while autopilot serves its purpose, many options that are taken at the autopilot level aren’t necessarily what’s best for us as individuals. This is crucial for there are times where choices made from within our deepest levels must be taken, for if they are not and autopilot engages, we can take the wrong turn in life.
If that takes place sometimes it can be quite tough to get back onto our original path. In my case, the ‘best’ (or worst!) examples of choices I have taken in autopilot are those which affected my health. This is the vanguard reason why I attempt to – though don’t always – end up trying to be hyper-focused – mindful – on many things that might seem irrelevant. Why so?
If as an individual, one can be incredible focused on the run-of-the-mill ‘easy’ choices, then being focused when it counts it’s a lot easier. This way staying on our personal bearing isn’t as complicated as it can be become if we’re on autopilot. Seeing the potentiality of every single choice, no matter how small, reminds me of the sentiment within the quote by Carmelo Anthony which states:
“Any decision I make is the biggest decision of my life.”
Just like the captain of a ship cannot get to his destination without plotting a specific course, individuals cannot get to their destination without taking specific choices. Choices that are taken with every step, with every breath.
Choices that can open the doors of today, paving the roads of tomorrow.
But always remember: your consciousness – your inner most level – is the skeleton key of life, for it opens all doors.
Where will those doors lead? Only you know that, because only you hold the key.
You always have, and you always will.
___________________________________________________________
If you find value in this information, please share it. This article is free and open source. All individuals have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and BreakawayIndividual.com
___________________________________________________________
About The Author:
Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, inquirer, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, and freelance writer who aims at empowering individuals while also studying and regularly mirroring subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.
