Choices, choices! An election special.

It’s election week and we have a choice before us.

There are many aspects of our lives we’ve had no choice about, of course.

We didn’t choose to be born male or female.

We didn’t choose our country of origin.

We didn’t choose our parents, our birth family or our start in life.

That’s quite a lot of ‘givens’ to live with.

But growth into adulthood is the gradual making of choices for ourselves.

Some things we cannot change, some things we can.

So in election week, it’s good to remember the choices we do have.

We can elect, for instance, to listen to our breathing in difficult situations, and thereby turn knee-jerk reactions into more considered responses.

That’s a healthy choice.

And we can elect to listen kindly to our feelings, rather than repress them, because un-heard feelings poison and cripple our lives.

Another healthy choice.

And of course we can choose to vote on Thursday, Election day…

…because in some matters, we have both a voice and a choice.