Choices.

     It's a simple title tonight. Yeah, that means I came up with the title right away, so I'm assuming you can guess what this is going to be about. We make choices every second of every day. The vast majority of them, we don't even think about. From the second you come to life in the morning, you make a choice of whether to open your eyes, or keep them closed. From the moment you choose to open your eyes, the next choice is, do I get out of bed, or stay in bed? It goes on and on from there. These are the easy choices that we make. The difficulty comes when you come into contact with other people.

     The first person you see on any given day, can be anyone. There are some exceptions to this of course. If you are married, have a significant other, live with relatives, or roommates. Then you have to decided how you are going to greet them, or whether or not to greet them at all. That first impression is going to stay with them all day. Do you greet them with a smile, or just a nonchalant nod? If you chose that nod, you are probably going to be explaining things later, but that's not where I'm going with this.

     Where I'm going is, when you meet that first person in your day, that you have no attachment with what so ever. How do you greet them, if at all. Is it with a smile, or that nonchalant nod? Either of which should get a welcome response, but you could just sneer at them. What kind of a response does that get you? I'm betting on, not a very good one. Maybe they took the initiative and greeted you first. Same possibilities of greetings as above, how do you respond to the sneer? This is when things get tricky, and the choice you make can affect you day in a profound way. You could take the easy route, and simply ignore it. It goes away, no harm no foul, but what if you don't take the easy route? What if you made a choice earlier, that has already upset your day, and instead of ignoring this sneer, you throw one back? The choice then moves to that other person. What is their response to your response? This is where negativity starts to impact your day in the way that negativity always does.

     Negativity doesn't just move along at a normal pace. Negativity is compounding. It grows and multiplies with each new negative act. It takes over, in a very small amount of time. If you reach for negativity, it is always going to be there for you, but it isn't a warm blanket for you to curl up in. It is a burning hot sauna that inflames your rage. It's easy.

     Showing compassion, and empathy take work. It isn't easy to look at that sneer, and just smile, and say, "Hello". At that moment, that could be the hardest thing you do all day, but in the end, if you do, it will be the most important thing you did. By smiling and saying hello, you possibly changed that persons view of the day they were having. By showing compassion in the face of diversity, made you a stronger person. By doing the least possible positive thing that you could do, you made your world  a better place.

     You have a choice to make. You can choice to be a better and more positive person, or you can be that negative one. I know the one that I'm going to choose. It isn't going to be easy, cause there is a lot of negativity out there, especially right now, but one person at a time, we can come out on top of this. We can be the creators of our own destinies, by simply choosing to be better people, and by doing that, maybe we can make someone else be better as well. It is contagious, and it will spread.

     I know this probably sounds a little preachy and idealistic, but you see, I had a choice tonight. I could have ran through what happened over the last two days since my last post, or I could write something that might give you a little hope, that this world can be better. I think I made the right choice. Peace in and goodnight.