What is Free Will and How Does It Affect Us?
What is invisible, yet incredibly powerful? What is at work all the time, whether we’re aware of it or not? What is the “mechanism” always available to us that dictates our every action? What is an amazing gift that every human receives at birth? What is completely free for the taking in every moment of life?
No, it’s not Superman!
OK, I admit it, not much of a brain teaser since the answer is right in the title — I just figured I’d use my free will to have some fun with you, which mixed with your free will, creates an outcome: You might be turned off by what you perceive to be silly and X out of this blog or you might get a light-hearted feeling and decide to hang in with me for a bit.
So one person’s free will affects another person’s free will and the synergy of the two (or more) creates a certain outcome. Comparing it to physics, one magnetic field affects another magnetic field determining whether the negative and the positive go forward together or the two negatives repel one another and go their separate ways.
Free Will is an incredible gift that we have at our disposal, 24-7; yet, who stops to consider it for one second? Not many, which is exactly why I want to draw your attention to it; so you can take better advantage of it.
It seems to me that the way in which we use our gift of free will determines the direction our life takes. In that regard, our decisions result in certain consequences, which ultimately create an outcome down the road apiece… just like the illustration of the magnetic pull of magnets, we affect ourselves and one another, but we humans have choices available to us; magnets and other unthinking entities do not.
We have the freedom to choose, the freedom to accept something or let something go. We can choose to be free from the bondage of our own minds, by virtue of where we put our attention. Just as a photographer can choose to focus on the foreground or background, diffusing any portion of the scene, we are all capable of doing the same with our own view of things, in the moment. We’re capable of taking our focus off what doesn’t serve us or anyone else., but how often do we exercise this capacity? If your radio station was full of static, you wouldn’t keep listening to it, or would you?
Free Will And The Principle Of Thought
Through the gift of thought, we have the freedom to:
accept the “reality” we find ourselves in, or not…
accept or reject any “reality” that is not beneficial to yourself or anyone else…
pick and choose which “reality” with which to run…
blow things out of proportion…
make something from nothing or nothing from what could have been something…
take things personally…
make mountains out of molehills…
take offense…
feel disrespected…
do something about it, or nothing about it…
make it a big deal or no big deal (NBD)…
take it (whatever is going on) personally,
or not…
We alone choose
What’s really great is that we don’t have to change or DO anything at all, except — not trap what we’re thinking about — simply let it move through us naturally; like the wind moves through tree leaves or waves move through the ocean. We wouldn’t want to trap a tornado in place – yet we sometimes do just that with our own minds. Does that make sense? It’s one thing if you’re studying information for a test, it’s another thing if you’re bothering the bejeezus out of yourself for no good reason.
The next time you find yourself in an unwanted state of mind, you might remember your free will and exercise it wisely.
