Life is Played One Choice at a Time

We are pressured to adhere to the talking points of our assigned identity group. If you are a “member” of one group you “should” believe what everyone else believes. However, members of an opposing group are expected to believe the opposite.

Are you defined by your family, community, or country? How about the groups with which you spend time, the language you speak, or the color of your skin? Who defines you? Family? Church? Government? Each may claim that they have the right to define you, but do they? And when they disagree with each other, are any of them right?

Earth is the same place for all of us, yet “your world”, how you see, label, and navigate this Earth is unique to you. Do you walk around mud puddles? Or do you jump right in the middle to find out how deep they are? Through your choices, you define every aspect of “your world”.

Others are constantly trying to get you to play in their sandbox. Do you drink Coke or Pepsi? Nobody is pushing you to drink water. Police insist you drive on the right side of the road at the right speed. IRS insists that you pay taxes according to their rules. Your county or city insists you must fill out paperwork and pay fees to fix up your own home.

It seems like everyone wants you to play in their sandbox. But what about your personal sandbox? In everything you choose to do, you are really playing in your own sandbox. You might just be playing in other people’s sand. You are the one who makes all of your choices. Others might use guilt, persuasion, shame, fear, or glittery objects to get you to make their choices, but at the end of the game, you are the one who must pay the bills and suffer (or enjoy) the consequences of allowing their misleading sand in your sandbox. When the game is over you discover that you are, and always were the only one in your own sandbox.

You are welcome to believe that Libertarians, Pepsico, and your children are all on your team, but in fact, you may be on their team, helping them toward their goals and aspirations. Each is in their own sandbox making their own choices and accountable for the consequences, unless you try to rescue them.

It is certainly beneficial to learn who you can trust, and for what. Then you can work together as a team. But always remember that every step of the way, each of us makes our own choices, suffers the consequences for those choices, and sees the world from our own sandbox.

From the perspective of your Soul, every choice you make builds character, creates challenges, and often presents more difficult choices. Through this process, you are building determination, creativity, and versatility to be able to handle greater and greater complexity, and to handle unfamiliar challenges. The only choice you can make that slows Soul growth is to blame someone or something outside of you. This is the opposite of taking responsibility for your own life and choices, which is the pathway of your Soul.

Choosing difficult challenges and overcoming unanticipated difficulties is what makes life worth living. Without striving, life becomes boring and monotonous. Whether we work individually or as a team, the experience of contributing to the achievement of objectives and overcoming of obstacles is what our lives are all about. Choosing to help others in overcoming their adversity nurtures our own courage, creativity, and versatility. It provides the same Soul growth as achieving our own objectives. What matters most in life is not whether I won or lost, but rather that I made my own choices, I gave it my best effort, and I acknowledged the consequences as my own.

It is so tempting to become overwhelmed, depressed, or confused, or to give up. And what If we were born into an impoverished family in the middle of the desert, missing an arm, and with only one good eye? And let’s add that dad is an abusive alcoholic. From the Soul’s perspective, it’s all the same. We are still making our own choices and managing adversity the best we can. The opportunity for Soul growth is still just as rich…

Whether we are born with a silver spoon or a broken leg, the opportunity is still simply to choose and strive. We have the illusion that everything happens in the outside world, with cars, drugs, and electronics. We like to say, “the real world.” However, the entire process of choosing, striving, and Soul growth happens within us.