Our Choices

We live in a world that offers us so many choices... a world that we feel totally consumed by and all too often lost within. It really doesn't matter where we go for this multitude of choices faces us the moment we open our eyes in the morning and continues to bombard us throughout the day.

We have come from a past of openness and community, to a life of isolation and segregation. Is this really living? Is this the way we are meant to experience our lives on a daily basis?

I don't think so...

Our lives are now controlled by fear... fear of our neighbours, fear of the street we live in, fear of being outdoors, of meeting new people, of illness, of losing, of past events recurring, of love... fear of ourselves. But it need not be that way, we can change it... we do have that power within ourselves to choose what we want within our lives, and be a part of our lives. We can make the choice to live in fear or live in peace, love and serenity...

This is not new...
this concept has been with us for a millenia of time...
it is timeless...
it is who we are and what we are...

We are at a cross roads and it is up to us to define the life, the community, the world in which we wish to reside in. We have known for a long time that our lives are not in balance or harmony with our surroundings. We have known for a long time that there is more to life than what is in front of us... and yet we continue to struggle in a world that we are not happy with.

Life is all about choice. What we do with our choices determines the path that will lie before us until we choose again... this is an ongoing process... we choose and we experience. Even when we feel that we are not choosing but trying to avoid!

Our lives are surrounded by more and more choices and as a result our lives become more chaotic, more unsatisfactory and less balanced. We sleep poorly, eat poorly, our health weakens as does our tolerance of many things, situations and people.

We have lost touch with ourselves and each other...

Although we may say that we are happy, deep inside we are not. We feel something is missing, something just isn't right. Yet we do not sit still long enough to discover what it is that we are seeking. Instead what we do is make more choices and head off in another direction until 'that feeling' comes back again.

As we are slowly being consumed by our own vacuum of self-created 'happiness', we forget the very things that we regard as important to us. We reduce the amount of time we spend being face to face with people that we love, our family and friends and spend more time hiding behind a wall that we have created. We use mobile phones and emails to stay in touch with people and I do not condemn these technologies for there are times when they are necessary. I do, however, question their relevance within our lives when we are totally consumed by them to the point where some people are constantly checking to see if they have an email, text or missed phone call.

I have heard of some individuals who cannot cope and feel lost - quite literally - if they did not have their mobiles with them at all times. Are they being in touch with the world that is around them? Are they being in touch with themselves?

Our choices of lifestyles have had a detrimental effect on our personal relationships. Gone are the days of family get-togethers where everyone had respect for each other and regarded each member as a valuable person. Today family get-togethers are fraught with stress, tension, animosity and arguments. There is no longer the quality of togetherness, instead everyone just wants to get the whole affair over with and be on their way!

Due to this trend - that has been occurring over a number of years now - children have and are growing up without the guidance that is essential to help them establish close friendships and loving relationships.

Many children just do not know or understand the beauty and wonderment of a close loving relationship. Instead all they are learning about is how to be judgmental and isolate themselves in their own little world of computers and electronic games.

Very rarely do we now hear of a couple who have remained together for 20+ years. If couples manage to get past 10 years it is hailed as a miracle! The lessons of our ancestors have been lost. Today many people get into a relationship for status, money or security... if this was changed to being in a relationship purely and simply because of a love that is unconditional our world would be filled with so many possibilities and opportunities...

As our choices become more numerous and varied something else has been happening. Our world, our planet that we currently reside on is going through major changes herself. Is there a connection between our dis-connection and Mother Earth's dis-content?

We know of many places that are torn apart by wars and famine. How many of us make the choice to do their part? How many of us sit in silence for just a short period of time and allow healing energies go to these places experiencing unrest. I am sure that if it was a 'natural disaster' the first thing people do is send a prayer of hope to all affected. For countries that have been experiencing the same thing for many years, many of us don't even try. In fact, many simply ignore it or put the blame on the country/town in turmoil, blame the economy, blame the governments, come up with all sorts of reasons why it is the way it is.

It has been proven time and time again that when a large number of people direct their focus onto a situation - such as reducing violence in a city - and direct their focus together, the energies that have been sent do have an effect on the place. This is also true when the energies/focus is on 'getting even' etc. It is all about the vibrational energies that are being focused upon. How many times have you heard that if you focus on something you don't want you'll get it anyway? The same principle applies to focusing on what you do want... it is all vibrational energy...

So consumed are we by the thought of having a lack of something that we do not share with others. We do this in such a way that we do not even share ourselves, our emotions, our heart. We live in a world that is and has been created from fear. It is a masculine society where dogma rules all. If you do not have this - you are not good enough. If you do not believe in that - you are not worthy. If you do not follow the masses - you are lost.

But is our world really like that? Do we really exist in a world that is full of control, fear, anger and hate? Is this the world we want to reside in? Does this make us happy?

All too often I hear "...but I don't have a choice..." In stating this you have made a choice. We always have choices in our lives... always! By surrendering and saying you do not means that you have made the decision to give control over someone or something else.

Once we would look to our elders for lessons, guidance and information. In today's world we no longer look to them but instead hide them away in 'retirement homes' because they have 'outlived' their usefulness.

It is the elders of the past who taught the children of the villages. It was their teachings that enabled the people to connect with each other.. to see the beauty and simplicity of the world around them. It was their teachings that showed us the importance of being in touch with Mother earth, with the animals, with the elements. It was their teachings that showed us to take only what was needed so there would always, always, be enough for all creatures that inhabit this world with us. It was the elders who taught us respect and love...

Today our elders are becoming weakened by a world of dis-harmony. A world that so readily categorizes them as being too old for many things. We no longer look to them but past them... we think, we believe, that we know more than them, that they have no stories to tell, no lessons to teach... The ever growing incidence of Alzheimer's and dementia is increasing at an alarming rate... if we began to look to them once again would they begin to realise their worth, their importance in our world once more?... yes they would.... Has this increase occurred because we no longer seek the elders out as we once did?... I believe that it is a contributing factor...

So how do we change our world... our view on things?
How do we change our lives to one of greater harmony and love?

We begin to look within... we stop and allow ourselves to be in stillness... to quiet our minds, our ever going thoughts, and allow our selves to breathe. We do not buy into the belief that we must 'have' everything... for it will not be with us when we have passed on... we instead look at the simplicity that we can place into our lives and allow that simplicity to grow and nurture us.

We enter relationships with others and ourselves with new eyes. We do not place judgments on what is just beginning by what has been in our past... this will only keep the old energies in place. We experience the newness with the innocence of a child who does not know of pain or heart ache. We enter from a space of peace and love and not from fear. We allow ourselves to experience the moments of togetherness as the energies mingle and meld. We allow ourselves to love and be loved... to not judge what has transpired but see the beauty of what has been created... of what is and what will be...

No longer should we look at ourselves and feel that we are not worthy, that we are worthless, that we are no good... for this is a falsehood that we have placed on ourselves... it is but an illusion that we have allowed to become a part of us... but it is not who we truly are...

We have all experienced many things in our lives and not enjoyed them... yet if you were to look back at them you will come to understand that to become who you truly are you first needed to experience who you are not... you are not a person full of hate... you are a person full of love. For to experience hate you are also capable to experience love... they are both one and the same just on different degrees of the scale.

You are a person full of compassion and understanding... for you know what it feels like to have set backs in your life. By experiencing these you are able to know the opposite and in this you can assist and have empathy for someone who may be traveling the same road that you once did.

You are beauty and beautiful... do not look at yourself with disgust because of what you see. Instead look with new eyes and see yourself anew. See the beauty of who you are, who you really are... there is power in this... Instead of reaching for the food when you are feeling distressed ask yourself why you need to do this.

Are you experiencing old energies that are keeping you bogged down? Can you change this? (The answer to this will always be YES!) What has occurred in your past that keeps you believing that you have to be this way?

What is it that you can do for yourself right now in this very moment of space and time?

Instead of allowing yourself to ingest food that you know does not agree with you instead, listen to what your body is trying to tell you. It will go a long way towards improving your health and outlook on life. Why continue to consume foods that our bodies are not 'wired' to digest? Is it worth the discomfort you place on yourself? There are many people who are coming to understand this and studies have shown over and over again that our current eating habits are contributing to many health issues within our society of today.

If we begin to make the changes within our selves we will slowly begin to see the changes in our world around us. We will begin to see the wonderment and beauty of the people we work with and start to understand why they are the way they are. The people who always seem to be angry with you are not out to 'get you' they are probably having a really hard time trying to cope in a world that they feel is full of disappointment and pain.

Instead of spending your leisure time looking at emails and isolating yourself go outside... go to a park or in nature and breathe in everything that is there. Allow your eyes to see what surrounds you. Spend time with the people you love... they will not always be available to you and if you keep yourself 'off limits' to them there will come a time when they will no longer want to be with you... allow yourself to relax... turn off your mobile if you are one of the people who is totally consumed by it...

Allow yourself to experience life...

This is just a few of the things that we can do for ourselves and in turn they will manifest into the things that are ever elusive to us because of the way that we had once viewed them....

What else can you think of that will allow yourself to become who you want to be in this world?

Remember that you and everyone like you is a divine being of divine energy operating in a dimension to know who and what you really are...
we are all beings of vibrational energies....

This is not new information...
this is knowledge that we all contain within us for in reality
we are all one...

(C) Tania Collier
August 2009