The Choices We Make

roads-divergingEvery day, life presents us with choices.  We can either align with the fears and grudges of childhood or with our better instincts.

The choices we make in life add up.  We either crystallize into a distorted false self or into an emancipated true self.

Of course, choices rooted in the traumas of childhood are not good choices.  Rather, they are guided by the hurt child’s fantasies of rescue and revenge, induced by past events, mainly unresolved parental wounds from long ago.

When we choose out of our healed adult self, our life begins to evolve into new meaning and higher consciousness.  It’s almost as if we no longer have a choice.  We’re compelled to make good choices that serve our best interests and the best interests of all, including the natural world.

At times, as we grow, old wounds emerge and we are tempted to make poor choices.  In these moments, we must pause and review our traumatic history with compassion.  As we revisit, feel, and grieve old wounds, we are released again to choose wisely.

And our good choices add up.  We become a whole person living a whole and holy life.

The Past and Its Impact on the Present

Past-present-future-signsLiving fully in the present is not possible until we resolve our past.  Only when we face and grieve the harm we experienced during childhood, especially the harm caused by the shortcomings of our parents, can we fulfill life’s promise embedded within us.

Embracing the strengths of mother and father is easy.  More difficult is owning and grieving their weaknesses, their failures, even their crimes against us when we were young.  But this effort is necessary, if we are to live true.  If we refuse to do this work, unnamed forces will haunt our present, poison our future and prevent our deepest fulfillment.