After seeing my postings on recent travels, a friend said to me “You have a fun life, Janet”. It was a brief statement, but one that has stuck with me…because is it true. And it is true because I CHOOSE to make it so. Trust me, I have my share of life?s ups and downs. And yes, I am grateful to have the means and resources to travel fairly freely. But beyond all that, I have come to the realization that how I choose to view and live myself is just that – my CHOICE. 

Living near New York City gives me oodles of opportunities to practice this. There are days when all I see is the dirt and grime and homelessness and despair. And then there are days when I am walking the same streets and I choose to find the adventure in it. Maybe I’ll change my route and discover a new neighborhood. Maybe I take interest in someone walking near me and try to figure out their story. Or maybe I just listen to music, reveling in the fact that I, at this age, can still walk all over the city, visit friends, make new ones, take in the amazing culture and energy and choose to be ALIVE. 

My dear friend and spiritual guide, Selina Maitreya,wrote the following piece on social media recently. I am reposting it here as it has resonated with so many, including myself. I share her belief and philosophy. It?s YOUR life-Choose Well!  

Many of my Facebook friends comment on my continued positive response to the difficulties that I encounter in my life. 

The people that have known me a long time and know me well, remark on how I?ve changed over the years and continue to stay in a peaceful state regardless of the challenges I face. 

People ask me all the time how can you continue to see the best in others when the world is falling apart?

The reason I continue to see the positive aspects in life is because I choose to. We live in a world of polarity and for every piece of goodness we experience, there is a bit of difficulty that we could have focused on.

For every bit of chaos that lands in our local or global world, we can still choose to focus our attention on the goodness that exists.

We are our attention and what we put our attention on grows. 

It?s important to see what is around us, it’s critical for us to see the full picture of our life but what we choose to put our attention on in response to what we see, is the key to having a peaceful life instead of one of misery.

Read that again please. Read it over and over if you need to. For our next moment comes from our response to chaos, not from the chaos that landed. That’s why I make a point of responding from a high frequency. 
That my friends is the secret to a peaceful life.

How do I know that? 
I know this from experience. This is how I live. This is what I teach. I have had the opportunity to witness the amazing changes my students have accomplished as we’ve worked together and they have learned how to create a new lifestyle, one where love, kindness and appreciation are full frontal.

I choose to put my attention on gratitude. I choose to appreciate the good that surrounds me. Everybody has goodness in their life. The wonderful aspects of your life never leave when irritation arises, you simply choose to allow them to recede into the background when trouble shows up. 

I challenge you the next time you?re irritated, a piece of difficulty lands or you?re handling a great tragedy, find the areas of your life that you are still grateful for and focus on them with deep intention. 

This is how we heal, this is how we grow, this is how we move more quickly and easily and peacefully through our difficult times. Bring more light into your world when darkness prevails by making the choice to do so. 

Choice it?s yours, choose well!