Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Making Choices

A L O H A, Friend!




"Success is a great deodorant.
It takes away all your past smells."

Elizabeth Taylor




Senior (Kupuna) Day
 at the Hawaii State Capitol in tough budget times.




"Strive not to be a success
but rather to be of value."
Einstein






“If animals play, this is because play is useful in the struggle for survival; because play practices and so perfects the skills needed in adult life”

 Susanna Miller
 ><}}(°>




 /l、
(゚、 。 7
  l、 ~ヽ
  じしf_, )ノ 




If you make your own choices
people will think you unconventional sometimes.


I'm OK with that
because following conventional wisdom of the herd
takes one, in the end,
through the killing chute
for someone else's sausages.


Thing is, most of us want to fit in.
Feeling normal is important to us humans.



Conforming and rebelling
both turn on the axis of conventional wisdom:
reflexively for & against,
yin and yang.
And both bring supportive peer groups.



But dare instead
to simply choose your own actions
as the situation speaks
to your experience
and considerations.




How broad, well lighted, and convenient
is the companionable road
to perdition!




But the most precious gift
from divinity to each of us
(even churches agree)
is individual Free Will.




Freedom to doubt,
freedom to freely choose.




Free will is not mere willfulness.
This is important stuff.



When we freely choose Gratitude
over despair or resignation
we give a gift to the Giver,
the only one in the universe (in fact)
that the Divine does not simply
command into being;



The Gift
that keeps on
Giving.


Thanks for freely visiting here!
Your visits & comments are gifts
             I cannot give myself. Warmly, cloudia


24 comments:

Joop Zand said...

Hello Cloudia

It's always a pleasure to visit your blog.

Groetjes uit Holland, Joop

Rosaria Williams said...

Oh, so inspirational! Free will and making choices, lots to ponder about.

Freda said...

From the blustery north of the globe - greetings to you in your sunny paradise. Thank you for your quotes and wisdom.

Maude Lynn said...

This is wonderful advice, Cloudia!

nazelet said...

wonderful, just wonderful. I have been easing into finally accepting the blessings of free will. As a matter of fact, I'll be exploring that in a future post. synchronicity.

Anonymous said...

Right now, I am considering taking my computer in for repair. Free will, indeed!

Anonymous said...

More than I'm currently able to admit, this moved me much. Thank you. Please have a good Wednesday.


daily athens

Sebab said...

Beautiful reflections. Enjoyed all of them.

Anonymous said...

dig it!


kj

Lori Skoog said...

So well put!

Full-On-Forward said...

HUGGGGGGGGGGS-- FREE WILL- will save you from the Killing Sausage Chute, herd mentaluty!

Dare to be different, put a ring on your face adnBlog like our Cloudia!

You will be seen as special--and spared the mundane life.death of others- aka- The Herd.

Love the Little Kitty thingy!

Love you!

HFT Weather Beaten really messed up South Carolina. 40,00 people w/o power at one time, tress down, accidents, with 75 mph winds at the airport. That's baby Hurricane strength from cat 1. Golf ball sized Hail!!!!

Gotta be strong to wrestle with mother earth. Takes free, and all other kinds of will to do that!

Heck=---you know that first hand- oh Flooded one!

J!

Cloudia said...

Love YOU guys!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Your blog-notes flutter little rays of sunshine for your worldwide parish...DrumMajor

Commander Zaius said...

"Success is a great deodorant.
It takes away all your past smells."


Elizabeth Taylor


That explains all the worms and slime molds in American politics.

If you make your own choices people will think you unconventional sometimes.

I often catch the a lot of grief over that one.

Kay said...

Beautifully said, Cloudia!

Akelamalu said...

Inspirational post Cloudia. :)

黄清华 Wong Ching Wah said...

One of the most difficult task is dare oneself to fail as failure is the mother of all success ...

the walking man said...

I have made my choices alone with only one counselor. I do not mind hacking my own way through the jungles or walking swamps.

Love the line about becoming someone elses sausage...hahahahahaah they may find the meat in me is poisonous.

Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades. said...

More wise words from a wise woman!
<><

Charles Gramlich said...

I like my free will. I'm not so sure about everybody else's. :)

Cloudia said...

You ROCK! Thanks SO much

Jannie Funster said...

Cloudia, I always LOVE each and every one of your posts.

Am more in love with Einstein than ever now. I DO want to be of value!

Totally not into being "normal," thanks for the reminder how important it is to be ourselves.

And cute little blond boy!! Anyone you know?

xoxo

YOU rock!!

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

Nadine was based on a real person. That was my first venture into writing five years ago.
I posted the rest of the story in my
http://annkschin.blogspot.com/2008/11/nadine-chapter-one.html
This was the reason why I started blogging. It was to showcase my writing.
Of course, at that time, I didn't know any of you, so my writings were not read.
Thank you all for reading and commenting.

I believe in giving. I remember giving my time to Nadine.

Betty Manousos said...

You're inspiring me!