[From Embracing What Is]

We are constantly making choices, many times unconsciously. Taking ownership of our choices is essential to our happiness. When we believe we are primarily victims of things happening to us, we do not take full advantage of our ability to make choices and change our circumstances.

We often have a lot more choices than we realize. Fully considering our options is an important happiness tool. We are powerful when we make the choices that are ours to make, to the best of our ability, and let other people make the choices that are theirs to make. Other people’s choices are usually out of our control and aren’t our business, so it makes sense not to waste energy fussing about them, even when they are ill-advised or even karmic. It’s fine to express our concerns when there’s a chance they will be heard, and to prevent harm when possible, but others have the right to choose, even to choose to create karma. Being invested in the choices of others is certain to diminish our happiness. It tangles up our energy in theirs and dilutes it.

Other people’s choices certainly affect us, but we usually can’t do much about them. Sometimes we are in a position to control other people’s behaviors, and this can be appropriate at times — for example, when raising children. But even with children, no one can control their internal choices. We can only control our own.

However, emanating unconditional love through our emotions, truth through our intellect, and beauty through our body, to our highest ability, sets a tone that reminds others of the possibility of making more loving, truthful, and beautiful choices themselves. Love, truth, and beauty are the fundamental vibrations of the cosmos. Everything else comes from them. Negative energies are merely distorted, blocked, or immature expressions of them. Pure love, truth, and beauty, therefore, are more powerful than any other vibrations. The highest contribution we can make in any situation is to love, truthfully and beautifully.