You Are the Sum of Your Choices

While circumstances shape, move and shift us, it is our choices that ultimately make us who we are. Those same choices determine exactly where we are in life.
Until we own that, we will not flourish.

In the varied circumstances of my life thus far, what have my choices been?
Have I chosen to love or hate?
To forgive or cling to resentment?
Embrace discomfort or avoid it?
Resolve conflict or ignore it?
Initiate honest conversation or pretend everything is OK?
Do I ask for help or muscle through on my own?
Do I choose transparency or cover what is ugly within me?
Anxiety or trust?
Fear or faith & love?
Kindness over anger?
Silence instead of the right words at the wrong time?
Empathy or judgement?
Do my words bless or curse?
Will I give up or find a way forward?
Choose blame or take responsibility?
Gossip & slander or quietness?
Understanding & change or willful ignorance?

You are not the total of your circumstances. Life that has happened does not define who you are. It’s the personal choices made concerning those circumstances that determine who and where you are.
How you think is everything.

Be careful of your thoughts, thoughts become words.
Be careful of your words, words become actions.
Be careful of your actions, actions become habits.
Be careful of your habits, habits become character.
Be careful of your character, for it becomes your destiny.

We are the sum of our actions, and therefore our habits make all the difference.

Aristotle

The thousand daily choices one makes are far more important than the once-in-a-lifetime big choices.
Choose wisely, for your destiny hangs upon it.
Choose with care, for you are the sum of your choices.