‘Choice’

‘Which is Your Favorite Flower?’
by Alice Polson (image c 1909 New Zealand)

As someone once said to me, ‘I may not have a choice about what happens to me, but I do have a choice about how I respond to it.’ This card is about that choice, that conscious choosing amongst things and the responsibility which lies behind all choice. Much of our life experience in the collective result of choices made, and therein lies the bed upon which we sleep. This card also reminds us that there is much more choice available than normally considered, as much of life is somewhat consequential and we tend to resign ourselves to the fates, but choice challenges fate. It recognizes choice where we do not normally look, the choice to be happy, the choice to be free, the choice to be yourself.

And as the story continues, there once was a monk who lived a simple life, but was always happy, and finally another monk asked him, ‘Why are you always happy?’ And the monk replied, ‘Every morning I am faced with the decision to be happy or not… and I always choose to be happy!’