As I start to outline the Interpersonal Effectiveness Module, it seems appropriate to include this morning reading of Choice.  Everything we do involves making choices, and those choices affect those around us, especially when we’re interacting.  When the passage references being under the influence, consider the broadest meaning of that phrase – it’s not just alcohol and drugs, but we could be under the influence of food, pornography, emotions, our relationship with someone else, our need to please others, our need to “look good” to others, pride, false humility, caffeine, etc.  

Don’t just want. Choose.
~Patricia Benson

For many of us the fog is only beginning to clear. It takes a while to understand that all along life has been about making choices. Because we were under the influence, we inadvertently rolled into many situations with unclear intentions. Not being conscious of our choices, however, doesn’t absolve us of the responsibility for making them. Now we have the opportunity, with the help of the program, to take charge of our choices. We can, with thought, make responsible choices.

We are assured the gift of empowerment when we actively take charge of our choices. We used to want things to work out without doing our part or asking for what we needed. Or we never consciously made choices. What has become so very clear is that not choosing is in fact choosing! And, no doubt, we are still saddled with the results of some of the “choices” we never intended to make. No longer does this need to be our life pattern. Today is new day, and this program is giving us every tool we need to embark on the new course.

I will grow in confidence the more I consciously choose among my many options today.
~From A Woman’s Spirit