By Robert Jirda
Do you believe in free will? And what does free will do for you?
I heard the term “diminishing choices” for the first time from my hairdresser, although it wasn’t a term he came up with. I fell in love with it immediately. So often we are bombarded with talk about free will, and yet we don’t realize how or why we should exercise it.
Now you might be thinking of recent political affairs, which brought up questions about the privacy of individuals, the safety of your data that is stored online and the level of espionage performed by governments. But I am not here today to talk about political affairs. Quite the opposite. I want to talk about you!
Free will
A choice. Despite what you are led to believe, you do have a choice. Always. The downside of free will and the need for choice is that choices have consequences.
The consequences are not always pleasant and sometimes it is hard to see what they might be, in advance, which is why people generally try to avoid exercising their free will, and instead make choices on autopilot or let others decide for them.
Hiding behind the fear of the unknown and unpleasant, we easily lose track of what free will can offer, since we are imagining the worst. If we imagine the worst, it will give us a reason to do nothing and ask for “help”.
A keen person will easily see through the ruse, though, as what we are actually asking for is not help, but rather for the situation to be fixed. For someone to do things for us.
Self-help
When offering self-help books and programmes, we often see these kinds of people. Always complaining, never fully satisfied. Because if they stopped complaining… they’d have to open their eyes and decide for themselves. And that can be a painful choice!
What if I decide wrong? What if the people I love have to pay for my mistakes? What if…? An endless string of old worn out excuses to stay in my comfortable, if painful spot.
Diminishing choices
Is this you? If it is, then today I am here to release you from this endless cycle. Or rather to give you a key to your happiness, should you choose to use it.
Because this is once again a choice and something you have to do for yourself.
The power of diminishing choices is absolute, and it is not nearly as bad term as you might think! Whether you believe in God, Universe, Higher power or just believe in yourself, none of these wants you to be unhappy. The more you have, the more you have to share and the more everyone have…
There is a story. An old and often told story of Thomas Alva Edison and his lightbulb. Over 1000 tries to invent it, that led to the one which worked. Your choices are never useless. They may lead you to unpleasant situations, they may feel uncomfortable, but with every single choice you make you are moving toward your dreams.
Just like exercising your muscles requires repeated performance to strengthen them until they allow you to lift a bigger burden, exercising your free will allows you to make fewer choices that would bring you unpleasant consequences before you make the one which brings you what you desire.
And if you choose wrong… you can choose again and again and again…
Imagine yourself free of any consequences and tell me, what choice would you make? The one that helps you, your friends and brings you all the joy of shared values?
Now stop imagining and go make it!
About Robert Jirda
An NLP practitioner and Reiki Master Healer currently living in London, UK, Robert Jirda aims to offer a different point of view on mainstream spirituality as well as its practical use in everyday life. He runs a spiritual internet magazine at www.emeraldtabletweekly.com and has authored a series of books about chakras and the law of attraction. To read more, please visit www.soulshackles.com.
