"HE BECAME EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL – HE HAD NO CHOICE"

by Phyllis Sisenwine

Last month on an airplane to Chicago for a speaking engagement, I sat beside a beautiful young woman. We started talking and she told me she was a widow with six children. Our conversation soon turned into a coaching session and she said her dream was to become a motivational speaker and to share her story. She is raising six young children successfully and doing so with a most positive attitude. She then told me a story of twin brothers. One was extremely successful and wealthy. When asked what motivated him to become so successful, he replied, “My father was an alcoholic. I had no choice.” His brother couldn’t hold down a job and became an alcoholic and when asked, “What caused you to become an alcoholic?” he replied, “My father was an alcoholic. I had no choice.” There’s a great message here. What do you really want? And what choices are you making?

No one else can ever make your choices for you. Your choices are yours alone.. If you want to make some positive changes in your life you must create good choices. So often we don’t even think about how many choices we make in a day. What time to get up, what to wear, what to eat for breakfast are all choices that we make without thinking too much about them. Do you choose to take care of your health and exercise regularly? Or do you choose not to take care of your health. Do you choose to enjoy your work every day or do you choose not to enjoy your work? Do you choose to have a positive attitude every day or do you choose not to be positive? Do you choose to speak kindly to others or do you choose to say whatever you want and not consider another’s feelings?

It is the minor, daily decisions we make that direct the kind of life we’ll have. If you don’t make conscious choices about goals that you have you will not reach them.

Do you choose your friends? Do you surround yourself with people who are caring and supportive? Do your friends build you up? Think about the friends you have and the choices you’ve made. Choose well.

How do you spend your free time? Do you consciously think about the choices you have or do you watch television or do what you’ve done for years and not think about what choices you have?

Most of us take our time when making major choices about our education, marriage, and careers. But what about the hundreds of choices we make in a day? Are you going to worry today? Are you going to have patience today? Who are you going to spend time with today? If something happens at work, do you ask yourself, “what do I choose to do about this?”

Look at your life. Look at the choices you’ve made. Throughout the day, ask yourself, “Do I have a choice about this? If so, what choice do I want to make?

My daughter came to my house last week singing a very catchy tune. It was called “Keep on the Sunny Side”. The lyrics were, “Keep on the sunny side of life. Always on the sunny side. Keep on the sunny side of life. It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way if we keep on the sunny side of life.” What side of life do you choose? As we control our choices, we control our lives.

Throughout the day think about every choice you make. Will I get angry over this? Will the traffic bother me this morning? What will I eat for lunch? Choices, choices, choices.

Think about the twin brothers in the story I heard on the airplane and the choices they made. And think about the choices you’ll make. Whether it’s a major choice or lots of little ones, the choice is always yours and no one else’s. So remember, “Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side, keep on the sunny side of life”

Have a great month!
Phyllis Sisenwine

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