Choice in the Quest for Calm

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by life?  That everything is spinning out of control no matter how hard you work to control it?  Unfortunately for all of us, life has a way of being difficult sometimes.  When that happens, peace can seem impossibly elusive.  For those times, I'd like to share a quote from an esteemed friend, John Mroz, that has comforted and inspired me in my difficult times.

"Peace is not the absence of chaos or conflict, but rather finding yourself in the midst of that chaos and remaining calm in your heart."

I'd never thought about peace like that before.  External forces will always be there affecting our lives and emotions, but it's really our internal reactions to those forces that dictate calm and peace.

Choose your reaction. That's one of my main tenets.  For me, it was the above quote that helped me finally understand how Choice is king.  Choice, whether consciously or subconsciously, forms and determines our habits and actions, and ultimately, how we feel and react.

It is no small feat to choose your emotion.  If you're like me, it's one of the hardest things to do, let alone, do consistently.  I'm certainly still a work-in-progress.  But habits are developed over time not overnight.  Similarly, it takes time to undo behaviors.  There are many sources of advice on how to accomplish this - and I'll be laying out many of the motivating principles I used in more detail in future posts - but I think it's important to reflect properly first on the concept (and power) of Choice in our lives.

There is no magic formula for leading a happier, more fulfilling life but there are a few strategies that can help move us in the right direction.  They all rely on Choice.