The Act of Acting! Now there’s a thought! I bet you think I’m talking about what happens in theater or television or movies! Acting! Nope, I’m not talking about THAT type of acting. I’m referring to the type related to choice -the Act of taking action.
You see, life is full of Acting – making choices! We make choices every day of our lives. Some turn out well while others are disastrous, but that is life. There are no guarantees as to the final outcome of the choices we make. Outcomes are not the point of choices! No, the point of choices is that we have the power to make them.
We are not tossed around by the whims of a fickle world unless we allow ourselves to be. As long as we have the courage to ACT, we have a chance to influence the outcomes of life and sometimes change them for the better.
The Act of Acting begins the moment we awaken. Every morning, we have a chance to set an intention, to choose how to engage the day ahead! We have the chance to ACT!
Often, however, we allow Life to make our first choice of the day for us! It happens one day, then the next, then the next and then . . . well it becomes habitual!
It’s almost like we get up in the morning and allow life to give us instructions like this: “OK, Mark! Stand right there . . . no, to the left two steps. Yes! That’s better. Now up one . . . no, back two! There that’s it! Now, smile!” Next thing you know Life backs over us with an eighteen wheeler! Why? All because we allowed Life to make the first choice of the day for us! We allow Life to Act on us rather than the other way around!
The late Stephen Covey put it this way: “The first choice we make each and every day is, ‘Will we act upon life, or will we merely be acted upon?'”
I don’t know about you, but I get a little tire of being backed over! How bout it? Shall we make our first decision today and every day to “Act upon Life?” Let’s do it!
Peace!
Mark E. Hundley
