Are you living the life you chose or the one that chose you

I spent New Year's Eve at the Winter Shelter for the homeless recently.  On the way home from the shelter I heard a song with the refrain for which I titled this post.  Are you living the life you chose or the life that chose you?

Certainly I believe we create our lives.  Either by choosing or by not choosing.  We may not choose everything that happens to us but we certainly do choose our response to the events and things that come our way.

I and my church believe we co-create our lives with God.  It's call it the Law of Attraction.  Here is a link to an article by Eric Butterworth's on the matter  He was the minister at Unity of New York for many years and one of Unity's great writers:  The Law of Attraction  Butterworth.  He also talks about that we attract everything into our lives and how to deal with what comes our way even the not so good stuff.  Eric also wrote a book called The Power Within and is included in my Self Care Book List on Amazon.   A quote from the article is:

If you are having a problem, don't shift into the attitude that a "twist of fate has ruined my life." This is a cop-out. The experience has happened, and to you, not to someone else. At this time, you may not understand it, but something in you has attracted it. Don't grovel in the "why," for this may be a subtle attempt to vindicate yourself and to implicate someone or something else. Accept the obvious fact that it has happened, and know that there is that in you that is equal to it. And most importantly, determine that you will grow through it and thus rise to a state of mind where such a thing cannot happen again.

Another great Unity writer is Ellen Debenport and she writes in the linked article about co-creating our lives with God:  EGO - Edging God Out.  Ellen also wrote the book The Five Principles which is about Unity's five basic principles and part of my Self Care Book list on Amazon as well.  

Rev. Art Holt also wrote a great article about Your Thought Is Your Life which includes some bibilical references and that if you Change Your Thoughts! You Change Your Life!

One of my favorite writers and one I read daily is Fr. Richard Rohr a Catholic priest that I admire and respect.  He writes daily for the Center for Action and Contemplation and in this article titled:  Choose Heaven he writes about choosing Heaven or Hell everyday and that they are both inside of us.  Another great article by him is about Living Fully subtitled Dying Before You Die.  In this article he writes:

[We] make the conscious choice of living not in the past or future, but in each present moment. This takes great courage and the ability to make peace with your life: to live without hope or fear, to let go without regret, to know that you have lived fully. 

What an appropriate quote to end this post on Choice and Choosing.  You will definitely hear more of my thoughts on this subject.

Abundant blessings, peace and joy!