I want to say something simple and radical. It’s not new – I’m sure it has been said a million times in a million ways: The things we do, and the things  we choose change us. This is something we all know. It’s part of the reason for inertia. If I up and do stuff, things are going to change! But more than that - the things we do change us. And that includes doing nothing!

Why is this important? Because every day we make a thousand decisions, take thousands of steps. We eat food that nourishes our bodies, or don’t. We meditate or don’t. We work out or we skip it. And lest we fall into good/bad, right/wrong  it is not always that cut and dried. Sometimes up is down. And every decision, no matter what we base it on, changes us. When I choose to meditate daily, that practice changes me. When I choose to eat local, organic food that act changes me. When I choose to stop what I’m doing that’s so important and play with my child, that changes me –and it changes him! When I choose to be open to connecting with others I am changed. Another thing that is true – what we do changes the people around us. We are more impactful than we think!

Why is this important? Well, mostly we hear about this in a negative way – someone letting go of their ethics or their self care or their finances. But the beauty of it is that it is also true around spiritual growth and transformation.  Every choice I have made around my spiritual work and practice has changed me – radically and deeply.  When I made those choices – some of which seem so small – I did not choose the way I did in order to create change. I simply made the best choice I could at the time. I am so grateful for the impact my choices had and continue to have on my spiritual growth.  Every choice we make in a direction enables us to make the next choice. And those choices have blessed me and in turn, blessed those I interact with.

One way to measure the value of our choices is to look at the change they create. Do the things I do and the things I choose enable me to be the best version of myself I can be? Do they make me more myself, more deeply aware of my connections, more centered and healthy and able to engage with my world? Do they allow me and even help me to care for myself, my family, my community, the earth, my place and work in this world? Do they enable joy and love and health? Do they create space for moving through illness and grief or helping others do the same?

Choice, in any arena is powerful.  Sometimes we take choice and action and inaction for granted. We take both their option and impact for granted. It is only through the blessings of freedom that we can do that.  Too often we believe our actions and our choices are meaningless. We could just as easily do one thing as another and the world would keep on turning un-impacted. But the world has changed on a single choice:  A woman who sat down on the bus. A family that helped protect their Jewish neighbors. A mother that loved her child. A lover who held his beloved.