We all get a choice today.

We get to choose whether to feel upset when something or someone doesn’t meet our expectations. Or we can accept that things are just the way they need to be in this moment.

We get to choose whether to doubt ourselves based on some silly story we internalized at age 10. Or we can hug that 10-year old and tell her you’re moving on.

We get to choose whether to go through the day full of anxiety because our heads are firmly planted in next week or next year. Or we can reel ourselves back to the present moment, where we’re perfectly safe.

We get to choose whether to keep revisiting the past in the hopes that just one more visit might change what happened. Or we can let yesterday float away, taking with us only the lessons we learned.

We get to choose whether to make time for spiritual growth, exercise, meditation, service and love. Or we can continue to fixate on distractions, worry and fear.

We get to choose whether we focus our energies on controlling other people. Or we can have faith that those people are on their own path, and our input is not required.

Sometimes it doesn’t feel like we have a choice, right? Because our behavior and thought patterns can be powerful – the ones that tell us we need to control others, or that everything is fine as is, even if it’s really not.

But they’re just patterns. My patterns aren’t me. Your patterns aren’t you.

And we have a choice to move beyond them. So much freedom awaits.