Every day has a dawn, how­ev­er dim. Each day has a new begin­ning, and we are free to approach it with new eyes and a new way of being. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” You may have heard count­less clich­es of this kind, but have you paused to ful­ly con­sid­er what they mean?

You are always evolv­ing or devolv­ing, through action or inac­tion, so you can­not avoid change. You can, how­ev­er, attempt to man­age it.

Some believe that life some­times throws a mon­key wrench in the works for the sole pur­pose of giv­ing us an oppor­tu­ni­ty to change. In the Hero’s Journey this is called “The Call.” Traditionally, the call is ini­tial­ly resist­ed. Perhaps you are feel­ing a resis­tance in your­self to doing some­thing dif­fer­ent or to aban­don­ing a famil­iar way. It may not be obvi­ous.

Crises marked by anx­i­ety, doubt, and despair have always been those peri­ods of per­son­al unrest that occur at the times when a man is suf­fi­cient­ly unset­tled to have an oppor­tu­ni­ty for per­son­al growth. We must always see our own feel­ings of uneasi­ness as being our chance for mak­ing the growth choice rather than the fear choice.*

Making a new choice may be extreme­ly life alter­ing with accom­pa­ny­ing emo­tions and upheavals in lifestyle. Later posts will address how we deal with the emo­tions, beliefs, and con­se­quences which affect and result from our choic­es.

• from If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him: The Pilgrimage Of Psychotherapy Patients by Sheldon B. Kopp