Tag Archives: Free will

Destiny

Destiny- the hidden power believed to control what will happen in the future; fate.

DestinyThere are always going to be questioned in people’s minds. Why is this happening? Why did that occur? Why this experience? Are there forces at work in our lives that we have little control over?  Do we have a destiny, or is life all about free will?  Or both?  Questions are the tools of all thinking people searching for answers. They guide our minds toward solutions and actions.  Whether you believe every person has a destiny or not is irrelevant to me because we all have a destination. Whether you are fated to get there or not is a matter of semantics because you will get there.  Your life will be full of challenges, changes, and choices you will have to make. Each one is propelling you toward other challenges, transitions, and options. This cycle will continue in a loop until the end of your time.

Each of these decisions you make and experiences you have to change you, your outlook, and the skills others have with you.  So do you control these choices, or does it come from the Universe?  Just contemplating this situation will increase your consciousness. It all starts with you taking a moment and looking at your thoughts, words, and actions today as you determine the extent of your experiences.

 Choices of Destiny

Why does one person become a wild success and another a failure? I think it has very little to do with what is destined to happen and more to do with our reaction to situations and the choices we make.  To believe that only one destiny is available would seem to take away the joy of growth and learning.  Who is to say that there are not two or three or a million different destinies available to us and how we react to the challenges we face determines where we land.  Each day we are faced with the simple choice to accept where we are or to do something different.  To be a positive force in the world we live in or harmful.

You will be responsible for the place you are in right now. Situations are out of our control. How we react to them is our choice always, and the definition of your life is the result.  Losing a job, ending a relationship, a natural disaster, or the sudden death of a loved one are all examples of things happening out of your control.  How you have reacted to these things defines your life today.  Good, bad, or indifferent.  It wasn’t the events that created this destiny, it was your choices and resulting beliefs developed because of them.  You are free to choose something else at any time.

Create Your Destiny

What is it that you want in life? Would you like a more fulfilling relationship? To have more money? To have an exciting career? What is it that interests you?  Knowing that will help guide your choices when facing the challenges life will inevitably present you. Many people have no clear desire or destination in life, so their reactions to challenges are emotional and inconsistent.  In the words of Lewis Carroll, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”

Your destiny can be the result of a series of conscious choices, or it can be the result of your unconscious meandering.  Having a clear idea of what you would like to have in your life will allow you to take the right road and take responsibility for those choices. Don’t hide behind the false wall of pity. No hero’s story was ever built with the boards of self-pity and fear.  Be brave, be responsible for your choices, and know where you would like to go. Picture your desired destination and take actions that most likely move you in that direction. That is your true destiny.

Be a Hammer, Not a Nail

I was once taught there are two choices in life, and at different times we are the experiencers of both: Be a hammer or a nail.  That means you are either the provider of forces influencing the events around you. Or you are the instrument being influenced by the power of situations, other people, or whatever else you allow to control you.  You have the choice in most cases where you fall into this relationship.

Sometimes, we will be the nail no matter what we do.  Accept the situation, be responsible for your part, and look for ways to influence the direction of things from that point. You will face challenges in life, and they are opportunities for growth, accomplishment, and finding your destiny.  Accept the challenge with courage and character, and you will find the lesson in the problem more quickly.

It all starts with a more engaged consciousness, a thought, and focused action. Look at your thoughts, and they determine the words you speak and result in your efforts.  It is your destiny; take control of it today.

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.”

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward.”

“Love is our true destiny. I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny is no matter of chance.”

 

Beliefs

Soul Searching Begins

Soul Searching Questions
Soul Searching Questions

What is important to you in life? What is life all about? Why are you here? There are so many questions that we ask about life and our place in it that I thought it was time for some answers. These great questions will help you understand your thoughts in this area. I have tried to answer each according to my conscience. Only you can answer these 25 questions for yourself.  

1. Is there a grand scheme of things?

I believe that there is a grand plan. We are all filling our part in this plan. You may be wondering where you fit, but sometimes it isn’t easy to see your part when you are involved personally in the tasks at hand. You are a valuable player in this game of life, and others depend on your behaviors, positive or negative, to get where they need to go.

2.Are we born with a destiny to fulfill?

Is there a destiny?
Is there a destiny?

I think that we are all born with a potential for greatness, and you have the potential to be tremendous and experience excellence.  Whether you do or do not fulfill your destiny is where your choices of development come.  I think that I have a question about this. No matter what road we choose to take, will we end up in the same place in the end? Nobody can know the answer to this. However, that is what makes life interesting.

3. If so, what’s the use of forcing certain things we think should happen to happen?

Have you ever forced something and had success? I know that I have forced things I thought were good for me, and they turned out not to be very good for me at all.  We are not always the best judge of what is best.  All we can do is make choices and live with the results. There was a pretty resounding and clear answer when I had forced things that I shouldn’t do. It can also be painful. We should all take actions toward our goals because actions are the catalyst for anything, but lose your attachment to the results.

4.  If all things come at the right time, why do we constantly worry about the future?

You can choose to worry if you want to. You can also choose not to worry.
You can choose to worry if you want to. You can also choose not to worry.

Worry is just thoughts we have that make us feel like we are involved in the decision-making process. Some people think like worrying will keep away all results that are perceived as unfavorable. Some people believe worrying will prevent them from being disappointed.  All you can do is live your life, worry if you want, but it won’t do any good.  I think all things do come at the exact right time, and it is just that the clock is not run by what is easiest for us. It is best, sometimes hard lessons are best, and that can hurt, but it is always a choice to respond to any event.  Worry if you want to, but I have found worrying a waste of time.

5. And what do we do during the intervals while we wait for those predestined things to occur?

Live your life. Live your life. Live your life.  Enjoy what is happening. Why look ahead. Because you may feel you have a destiny ten years from now, who knows how long you have? Enjoy today. If you are looking ahead to find your future, you miss the fate right in front of you today!

6.  Am I just wasting my time in seeking my purpose?

There really are no wastes of time. Some are on the path of enlightenment, some are on the path to video game supremacy. Who can judge what is a waste of time?
There are no wastes of time. Some are on the path of enlightenment, and some are on the way to video game supremacy. Who can judge what a waste of time is?

I don’t know are you wasting your time? Do you think you have control over it? You don’t. Birds gotta fly, fish swim, and you have to look for your purpose. I do not have the insight to tell you what will happen, but the growth you have experienced and your influence on others is indeed a good thing, so how could that be a waste of time. Change is inevitable, and if you weren’t changing one way, you would be changing another.  Nothing is a waste of time unless you decide it is.

7. Do we even have a purpose? If so, Do you find your purpose, or do you create it?

I think we all have a purpose. Does it matter if you create it or you find it? It is there, like a mountain, it is there, it doesn’t matter how it got there, does it? It is there for you to enjoy, climb on and adventure on.  Do what your heart tells you. Your purpose will become evident. If it feels right, do it; if it doesn’t feel good, don’t do it.

8.If you’re supposed to find it, how do you go about it?

Live your life. Please do what you can; it will find you. When you do something that fuels your fire, pursue it and accept the results that come. Trust that the experience will provide you with the lessons and value that you need. Without being aware, soon, your purpose will be evident.

9.  If you’re supposed to create it, how do you go about it?

Live your life. Do what you can. It will find you. Be creative in any way that you can because creativity is the doorway to creation.  It connects you to your true self and allows you to see a more significant piece of the puzzle. So draw, paint, write, think, tell stories, invent, experiment, or do whatever gets your interest.

10.  Is there a Universal Force, a Great Creator, a Divine Source?  Or, is it just us Humans of skin and bone?

Where do you find
Where do you find Divinity?

I have never been surer of anything in my existence. There is a force greater than ourselves.  If you have become aware, you know this to be true as you feel your way through your life. This is the power that connects us and allows us to create unique and powerful human beings.  Our vehicle for this adventure is the human body, and it should be valued, but our identity is not our body.  If you were born into another body, wouldn’t you still be you?

Skin and bones, dust to dust, the body are temporary; your soul is eternal. If it is not, how come we do not age on the inside? We don’t.  I feel the same in mind and spirit as I did when I was young.  I have more experience in life, but I do not think differently. Do you?

11.Is there really something spiritual about us, and what about Mother Earth?

There is something spiritual about the world, and you can feel it anytime you get out into a natural setting.  All living things have energy, and the power of one thing will affect the point of another thing.  Those who neglect this connection miss out.

12.  Or, am I kidding myself by not facing the cold, hard facts that this is it, this is our reality.

What is this? What reality are you afraid of? Working? Living life? Your truth is precisely what you accept it to be.  You can choose to be spiritual or not be spiritual. You can get the world as you see it, birth, school, work, death. Or as something more. I choose something more. It doesn’t mean life has no moments of learning, or work, or sadness, but they do not come on a schedule, and they can’t be planned. Learning happens each day.  Are you kidding yourself? Only you can answer that question. Knowing you, I doubt it very much.

13.  Are we a soul living inside a temporary body?

As I answered above, yes, we are. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. All people are connected, and through cooperation, this becomes evident.

14.  Are we eternal? Or, does it all end once you’re buried 6 feet under?

I think we are eternal. Yet, of course, we can never be sure. We will find out in the end, and that is a part of the mystery of life.  I am not worried about if I am wrong because what difference does it make?  Would you live life differently day-to-day? Most people wouldn’t.

15. Are we all the same?

We are all connected, and from the same, I think. My experience is different from yours, and we may have different backgrounds and speak other languages or be of different ages. Yet, there are many things the same.  We each have a mind, heart, and soul.  So does everyone else out there.  Inside, we are quite the same, I can relate and understand your experience, and you can appreciate mine if you try.

16. Are we all connected?

We are all unique but connected, I think. There is no separation between you and me or you and anyone else in the world. That is why I believe it is essential to see all people with a kind heart and soft eyes. No matter what their position in life, they are simply another version of you.  If you were born in different circumstances or experienced other things, who knows what you would have done?  Be kind and look for the human connection between all of us.

17. If so, then why do I feel so separate?

Why do you feel so separate? Do you try to connect with others? Since I think that each of us is connected, it must be a choice to feel distinct.  Maybe you need to have the experience that you are alone, who knows. Ten years from now, you will have a different answer, I think.

It is an illusion of separateness that we accept as accurate. We look at ourselves as islands of experience, unique to us, but we are connected, and all people have a similar core. Look at people as a connected part of you, and they will be. Or continue to see the illusion of being separate. The choice is yours.

18. Is there no magic in us?

There is magic in everyone. Unique and powerful spell.  Look at all of the things that have already come from your life.  You have created unique and mighty things, and I have benefited from them. No magic? What are you looking for? Magic beans? You have provided plenty of charm already, and you are just getting started. There is a future of magic and wonder coming for you and from you.  Why else would you be asking all of these questions?

19. Are we just a brain, with arms, and legs?

I think we are much,  much more. Some people lack arms or legs and still have a divine spark of creation that makes them think and feel like anyone with all their body parts.  There is a divinity involved in the human experience. You, my friend are an example of this.

20. Is there a calling?

I don’t know. Do you feel like you were called? I think there is being yourself, and that is a calling.  You are looking for answers to questions that deep down you already know the answers to.

21. Is the voice I’m hearing someone’s other than my own?

What does it matter? There is a dialogue in each of us. We ask questions continually, and someone answers. Is it God, is it us, or is it a combination of both? Again I wonder if it matters. We are who we are.  The dialogue in our head is ours and can add a lot of clarity to our actions if we take the time to listen.

22. Or am I just a raving lunatic talking to myself?

Yes, you are a raving lunatic. Suppose that is what you think. I do not believe so because having questions is a natural part of life, and most people don’t get to the point that they even know there are any questions, let alone the answers to them.

23.Intuition or Institutional?

Do what you feel is the right thing. If you end up in a small room with no windows, you will have your answer. If you don’t, you will also have your answer.  We are all in control of our own destiny, through the choices we make every day and the beliefs we accept, because of our programming.

24.Spiritual: creative, connected, enlightened, eternal beings?Or Physical: material, logical, moral, uninspired things?

Yes

25.Are you a spiritual being?

Yes, I believe in God, a higher power, the Universe, whatever name you are comfortable with because there are certain things that are difficult to understand any other way. I am not a fan of organized religion. When you put yourself against someone else, calling your beliefs the “only way”, or you are going the wrong way. These organizations work to divide people, and this divisiveness has led to some of the greatest atrocities in history.  I prefer to focus on the values which are true in all religions, honor, honesty, kindness, character, treat others as you would be treated, and all positive moral codes.

If religion is your thing, I support that but refuse to have my ship driven by your beliefs.  I will continue to believe what I feel is right based on experience and you can follow whatever dogma makes your life seem complete.  I will just say simply, do good things, not bad things and we will all be OK.

Challenges and Fate

 

Making-Choices-At-Cross-Roads-represents-Free-Will-Arriving-at-a-Cross-Road-represents-destinyMany have wondered if there is really such a thing as free will, or are we just following predetermined cosmic paths created for us to experience by some higher power.  Do our experiences happen for a reason, or are they chance?

Constantly, people face challenges and situations that always give them an essential experience or understanding that they need to accomplish a goal or create something that they could never have done without it.  Did you make choices about your actions, or was it your destiny?

At times it seems that life is an intricately planned dance, that we are merely providing a well-rehearsed part. So I will determine once and for all right here if you should listen to your heart or if it is an illusion you have any choice at all.

You Have a Choice

One side of this argument is that we all have the free will and choice to do whatever we want to do. There are no facts to back up this idea, only philosophy. We can pursue any goal, try to become anything we want in life. Create any experience we want. However, these goals do not always turn into reality. Sometimes we fail. So what is the choice then?  It is often a comforting thought to think that all thingsYou-have-a-choice. happen for a reason. But the bigger question to ask is, what is the reason? Is it a reason we have created for ourselves or a cosmic path we are sliding down?

We are the decision-maker in our lives. We each decide to ourselves if we let a minor setback put off the rails for a long time or resolve to try a different approach, learning the lessons of the past and the steely punch of reality.  When you set an intention in your mind and decide to create something, I think the Universe works to bring this about. But you can’t be sort of onboard with the result.  If you fail at first, you have a choice. To quit and blame the world for not giving you the thing you hoped to accomplish. Or you can choose to get determined and try again. You are not doing the same thing. That isn’t growth, but learning from the experience and adding that wisdom to the new effort.  That is a choice, and we all have free will to follow that at any time. I often have to remind myself of this fact daily. Many people go through relatively the same experiences. Some choose to quit, hide from and be bitter about life, where others want to use the circumstances as a motivation for getting something done, accomplishing the unthinkable, and proving life wrong. You can most likely find both of these experiences inside of yourself.

All As It Was Meant To Be

destiny-1Another thought is that everything exists out in front of you, and you are following a path that is set for you by God, the universe, the great beyond, or destiny (whatever you choose to believe).  To me, this means there is something that is going to happen regardless of your decisions.

If this is the case, then each choice you make is no choice at all; it is just you playing a predetermined part.  It will be ironic if this turns out to be true. Some decisions we languish over and spend hours of worry about for no real reason. But, in the end, your choice is already recorded in the books. We are just part of the illusion of control that makes us feel better.

Destiny is an excellent idea because it relieves the pressure. Things may not be as I want them right now, but I am moving toward greatness because it is written in the stars. (or not) I believe that the thought of true destiny without our participation would make no sense, but that is why we play this game of life to figure out the rules required to win. Each step we take reveals a little more of the game, and if a person is observant and reflective, they can learn more every day.  There are times I feel like circumstances are as they are meant to be, and others where I can’t imagine the good that could result from the day I just had. I guess the value of anything is judged by you and how it is applied to make your life better or worse. Have you ever just let the fates decide? I know I have, and in those situations, whatever happens, enjoyment and happiness are still a choice.

The Combo Pack

destiny-or-free-will_06_2011I think that there might be a combination of these two elements at work in everyone’s life. You are living your life, and you are faced with decisions each day. You can be significant, and the choices you determine if you reach your potential or not.  If you let the fear of anything stop you from becoming a better version of yourself, you will be less than you could be in life. In all things of value, there is always a chance of failure, loss, and disappointment. I have experienced it all in the past year.  It is my choice now what I do about it. If those things drive me to do something which leads me to great success, then, in the end, aren’t the nasty things perfect?

Was it fate that pushed me in the right direction, or was it a personal choice? Does it matter at all if the result is a happy life in which we can be the best version of ourselves? The one thing which I am sure about is that if you are unhappy with your life, then you have to make a different choice than you have been making.

Each choice we make should reflect on our experience. Life had given and where we are going and what we do when we get there.  My personal experiences have been telling me that we create our destiny.  Through our intentions, beliefs, actions, and confidence in ourselves and our abilities, we forge a life full of accomplishment. Or, through our inaction and doubt, we create a mediocre life that may be acceptable to others but doesn’t follow our real purpose in any way.

Irony?

One of the ideas I love is no matter what choices we make in the day-to-day grind of things. We are going to be pushed this way or that. We do one thing or another. We make a million decisions to try to create something or become something. The irony might be that all roads lead to the same destination. Some are more scenic, and some are more painful. But at the end of the journey, no matter which paths you have chosen, you will arrive in the same place.

If I listened to my heart, I would delete this post. Or perhaps it is my destiny to post it. Or maybe the choice of posting or not will turn my life down one of two different roads, each of which has a million different experiences on them before ending up in the same place.   It makes you wonder if there is any point in worrying about anything at all. So perhaps listen to your heart, cross your fingers, and hope for the best is the most positive thing you can do.

So what do you think?

A. By not commenting, you believe that the universe is on autopilot and what happens will happen

B. You can say, knowing that your free will to comment will affect your future, my future, and the future of humanity.

C. It doesn’t matter what you do. The same result will occur.

D. All of the Above

“What fates impose, that men must need to abide;
It boots not to resist both wind and tide.” WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

“Man does not control his fate. The women in his life do that for him.”-GROUCHO MARX

“Maybe Fate isn’t the pond you swim in, but the fisherman floating on top of it, letting you run the line wild until you are weary enough to be reeled back in.”-JODI PICOULT

“We seal our fate with the choices we make.”  GLORIA ESTEFAN