Between stimulus and response, there is a space


"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."  
Victor Frankl

It's hard to feel comfortable in the space between stimulus and response. It's a passageway, not a resting place and not a highway.

As this fall turns into winter, we are aware of being in that space of uncertainty and possibility. It is time to make some choices, to move through the passageway and into new action. A new season, a new year and, possibly, a new era are almost upon us. It is time to choose.

If you're not sure what choices are possible, begin to label what is real right now. What do you feel? What do you know? What do you want? Find a way to record your answers: write on paper or on a computer, sketch them, talk them through with a friend.

Then look at what you have written and ask for each point: "Are you sure this is real? What else could be true?" Record those answers for what you feel, what you know, what you want.

Now clear your head. Go for a walk; clean a room; cook something; play some music. Do whatever engages you and gets you moving. Let your mind dive into the middle of something. This is an easier way to take a break than sitting still and telling your mind to be quiet.

When your mind is quiet, when you are feeling relaxed and focused, return to your list. Read everything you've written, and then let it go. On a clean sheet or a blank screen write: "this is what I choose. . . "  And then imagine it as if it were already real. See what you will see; hear what you will hear; feel what you will feel when you take action and make your choice real.

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