Change The Channel

In yesterday’s post I quoted from Victor Frankl where he said that we all have the freedom of choice of attitude in any given set of circumstances. Here’s a joke by Steve Bhaerman who authors jokes and scripts under the name of Swami Beyondananda. This is taken from Guidelines for Enlightenment: “The most powerful tool on the planet today is Tell-A-Vision. That is where I tell my vision to you, and you tell a vision to me. That way, if we don’t like the programming we are getting, we can simply change the channel.”

Like Victor Frankl, Swami Beyondananda tells us that we have a choice in the programming we give our minds. We can always change the channel if we don’t like how we are feeling. If even we do not have a choice in changing our outer circumstances, we are still free to choose how we relate to it. Our thoughts determine how we experience any given situation.

I once worked at what seemed like a monotonous job to my co-workers as a switchboard operator. I loved my job while some of my co-workers couldn’t wait to get off their shift. We were all doing the same tasks, greeting callers and connecting them to where they wanted to go. The difference was that I really focused on the service aspect, I worked at sounding warm and welcoming, to bring some cheer into the caller’s day. Some callers noticed that and were grateful for that brief uplifting moment with me. It was a gift I could give and in return I received my callers’ gratitude which was a positive experience for me.

The freedom to choose is a gift that we all have even if the society we live in limits that freedom in our outer circumstances. Many of us choose to live in mental prisons, surrounding ourselves with fellow inmates of helplessness, hopelessness, resistance, anxiety and fear. When we find ourselves in this miserable state of being, the more we hesitate to help ourselves out of it or to seek outside help, the more entrenched we become in the quagmire or our own mental prison.

The first step in freeing ourselves is to make the choice of willingness to change. How willing are you to make change, to make space for a new outcome? What are you willing to let go of? In making the choice to change we create a space for love to enter, for light to enter and shine into the dark recesses of our depression and be shown a way out. The universe is always bringing its messages of light, through a friend, a book, a TV program, or an animal we meet. We only have to make the opening and we will be shown the way.