Does our destiny eliminate our power of choice?
We have the power of reason and the power of choice.
I’ve often wondered to what extent destiny or fate plays a part in my life. And is there a difference between destiny and fate?
Aspects of your destiny include which country, culture and race you were born in. Which family dynamic you grew up in. Those are the things that can’t be changed.
Everything else (fate) can be changed according to the choices we make. We do have free will. For example, we can choose to give up or to move beyond. We can choose to blame or to take personal responsibility.
One way to see it is to liken destiny to your birthday. Your date of birth is immutable. That’s destiny. But what you do on your birthday is a matter of choice. That’s fate. I’m not too fussy about what to call these things; in my mind they overlap anyway.
Destiny is something we might not change.
Our free will is exercised twice: the first time is when we choose the circumstances that will best provide us with the opportunities to develop strengths and skills. That begins when, as a soul, we choose the life and circumstances in which to be born that will provide us with the best foundation in which to grow, or to rise above.
The second time free will is exercised is how we choose to handle those circumstances when they arise.
Throughout our lives, we will subconsciously attract people and circumstances that encourage or push us to learn and grow. (Unless we choose to repeat the same mistakes endlessly!)
So the set of circumstances we have chosen to experience arise at the most appropriate time in our life. That would be when we’re ready for them. We can slow them down or speed them up if we choose.
If we fail to learn from a particular experience, it will repeat itself as many times as needed, until we finally get the message.
Don’t tell me I’m the only one to have experienced repeat patterns in my life.
As we rise to our challenges and grow, we no longer need the same experiences, so they change to meet our new levels of development.
I feel my destiny is different.
Therefore, we can change our destiny by our actions and reactions.
The alternative to this line of thinking is to view ourselves as puppets, operating at the command of others, or, whichever’s worse, as victims of chance.
Your choice: are you going to be a puppet or take control of your life? Do you choose to change your destiny?
One way to see it is to liken destiny to your birthday. Your date of birth is immutable.
Try this:
Look back over your life so far and imagine what it might have been like, had you made different choices and taken different courses of action, or adopted a different attitude.
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