Choice vs. chance, a moment of truth. When it comes to the way that you orient yourself with life, are you living in a way that’s based on choice or determined by chance? Are you relying on luck and random acts to determine what pans out for you? Or are you making conscious decisions and steering your own path? These are two dramatically different ways to live. Living by choice yields a life by design; living by change is an experience of default. The former is not effective or enjoyable. So, when it comes down to it, choice vs. chance: which are you leaning into? Get to know about your inner nature, so that you can nurture the results you want into manifestation in your life.
Consider These Ideas Before You Decide:
IRL application, we all realize that there’s a little bit of choice and chance rolled up in a myriad of other factors; it’s a combination that makes the world go ’round. However, I hope that as you observe and reflect, you can migrate to a place where you choose to create your own philosophy and live it anyway. There are always opportunities to course correct, but we have to play an active part in that process. While we can’t control the ways of the world, we can certainly take a definable stance and steer our lives in a preferred direction. Just in case you’re still on the fence, here are some ideas to take into meditation: “choice vs. chance: which way am I living?”
-
Entropy is your enemy.
- Entropy is the idea that all systems have a gradual decline into disorder. For example, a sandcastle tends to fall apart over time. You won’t see a sandcastle spontaneously rise from the beach. A clean room becomes more cluttered over time. It won’t become less cluttered on its own.
- Negentropy is reverse entropy and it means a bringing of chaotic things into more order. We take that sandcastle and repair it, we take action and care for the room until it is clean again. In many ways, a life of choice means living with both intention and performing the daily maintenance that each intention requires.
- If you’re living by choice, you’re adding energy into your life and moving in a predetermined direction. Regular improvement is all that’s needed to overcome the effects of entropy. You can outrun the ‘pull into’ disorder.
- If you’re living by chance, you lack direction. Your life is always becoming more disordered. It’s only when your discomfort is great enough that you’ll get busy and make it tolerable again. But it will never be great. You deserve more than this type of life will ever provide.
-
Great things rarely happen by accident.
- The odds of anyone becoming a brain surgeon, movie star, astronaut, or president or living an amazing life are slim without intention. All of these things require an intention.
- If you’re living by choice, you know what you want and you’re making it happen.
- You have a pretty good idea of what your life will look like in the future. Almost anything is possible with enough time and effort.
- If you’re living by chance, you likely have a job you don’t want and you’re living a life you don’t enjoy. You spend a lot of your effort putting out fires just to keep your life the same. Life becomes one minor catastrophe after another.
-
A great life requires some thought.
- It’s hard to get what you want if you don’t know what you want.
- If don’t know what you want, you’re stuck with whatever you get.
- If you’re living by choice, you’re able to set goals. Attaining them creates the life you desire, step by step.
- If you’re living by chance, you don’t set goals. Failing to choose the direction of your life means not being clear on your desires. Without a target, you’re just drifting through life.
-
Consistency is important to enjoying a balanced life.
- It’s not just important to be consistent but to be effectively consistent. Watching five hours of TV each night is consistent, but not effective.
- If you’re living by choice, you are in the position to take effective, consistent action. A great career, body, social life, or anything else requires consistency, day after day. Making choices about your life provides the opportunity to be consistent in an effective manner.
- If you’re living by chance, you’re consistently inconsistent. Your life is too random to make progress in any meaningful way. The only consistent part of your life is passivity. Remember, even this is a choice. Unfortunately, one blanket choice to live by change usually leaves you wide open to get freely knocked around by the winds of life…is that really what you want?
Choose or Chance It?
And we circle back around to the options; Choice vs. Chance? Can you choose the life you want to live? Trust me, any other alternative ultimately leads to unsatisfactory results. That’s not to say that chance doesn’t play a part; the universe knows best and frequently mixes things up after all. But still, getting clear on our intentions helps us make decisions, and choose to stick with them. Stay in the driver’s seat with clear eyes and see where that vision and determination take you. Live a life that you’ve designed. Avoid living life by default.
You can create a much more satisfying and enjoyable life with choice than you’ll ever achieve through chance alone. Take a deep breath, and for today be mindful where you stand on choice vs. chance and the way it exists in your life. Be bold and choose. You’ll be glad you did. Start now.
Be Aware.
Be Well.