Monday Motivations: Change Begins With Choice

I have always been a fan of business philosophers and motivational guys, and Jim Rohn is one of the best. This story came from his free weekly email, which you can subscribe to here. I love the message...it applies to all of us...and I love the story in the middle.

                                                                                      Jim Rohn

Change Begins with Choice

by Jim Rohn

Any day we wish, we can discipline ourselves to change it all. Any day we wish, we can open the book that will open our mind to new knowledge. Any day we wish, we can start a new activity. Any day we wish, we can start the process of life change. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year.

                                                                                     

We can also do nothing. We can pretend rather than perform. And if the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labor, entertainment over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause. As Shakespeare uniquely observed, "The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves." We created our circumstances by our past choices. We have both the ability and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today. Those who are in search of the good life do not need more answers or more time to think things over to reach better conclusions. They need the truth. They need the whole truth. And they need nothing but the truth.

Reminds me of the story about a large, majestic mountainside where a fragile eagle's nest contained four large eagle eggs. One day an earthquake rocked the mountain causing one  of the eggs to tumble down the mountain to a chicken farm, located in the valley below. By instinct the chickens knew they must protect and care for the egg, so an old hen volunteered to nurture the large egg.

One day, the egg hatched and a beautiful eagle was born. But the eagle was raised to be a chicken. Soon, the eagle believed he was nothing more than a chicken. The eagle loved his home and his family, but his spirit cried out for more. While playing a game on the farm with some of his chicken friends one day, the eagle looked to the skies above and noticed a group of mighty eagles soaring in the skies. "Oh," the eagle cried, "I wish I could soar like those birds." The chickens roared with laughter, "You cannot soar with those birds. You are a chicken and chickens do not soar."

 The eagle continued staring, at his real family above, dreaming that he could be with them. Each time the eagle would let his dreams be known, he was told it couldn't be done. The eagle, after time, stopped dreaming and continued to live his life like a chicken. 

Finally, after a long life as a chicken, the eagle died - a chicken.

What's the moral of the story? If you listen to the chickens around you, you'll live and die like them - a chicken! Inside you is that eagle. This is your call to soar. You are an eagle. it is time to follow YOUR dreams and not the words of chickens.

We cannot allow our errors in judgement, repeated every day, to lead us down the wrong path. We must keep coming back to those basics that make the biggest difference in how our life works out. And then we must make the very choices that will bring life, happiness and joy into our daily lives.

And if I may be so bold to offer my last piece of advice for someone seeking and needing to make changes in their life: If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree. You have the ability to totally transform every area in your life. And it all begins with your very own power of choice!

In what areas do you feel the eagle inside of you trying to get out?

Are you willing to make a change?


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