Choices

 "We cannot live a choiceless life," Says Ernest Holmes in his text, Science of Mind.  "Every day, every moment, every second, there is choice.  If it were not so, we would not be individuals.  We have the right to choose what we wish to experience.  We have a right to choose what we shall induce in Mind.  We concentrate our attention.  The Law creates the form."

A while ago, I was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer, and I wasn't certain what the outcome was going to be for me.  I decided to take some graduate psychology courses, and I was particularly interested in hypnotherapy and the mind-body connection.

In one class exercise, the instructor guided us with his voice as we went into a relaxed state, descended some stairs and came to a door.  Then we opened the door and had an experience personal to us.

When I opened the door, I saw a lattice, and beyond that a beautiful garden with many large green plants and huge yellow flowers.  A Japanese woman, wearing a coolie type hat, was working in the garden.  I went up to her, and she pointed to a white picket fence at the edge of the garden.  Beyond the fence was a shrouded figure, and behind him wild, turbulent waves pounded the cliff and the sky was dark and stormy.

I knew intuitively the figure was death, and I had to go over there.  As I opened the gate, the figure pointed silently to a path along the cliff.  I knew I had to go...and go alone.

The path was gray and misty, and I walked on.  I felt somewhat calm as I walked, realizing that this task was doable, and I could do it.

Then I heard the voice of my instructor saying, "And now we'll return to the room."  Well, I whipped down the path, past the shrouded figure and the Japanese woman, through the door and up the steps.

Back in the room, we shared our experiences.  the instructor said to me, "You were brave to go over there."  And I said:  "I didn't think I had a choice."

For our homework, we were to do the experience again.  This time we were to create a different ending.

So at home I went into a relaxed state, down the stairs, and into the garden.  I went up to the Japanese woman and said:  "I want to work awhile in the garden."

And she said, pointing to the shrouded figure, "He has patience.  He will wait."

At that moment, the shrouded figure began to dissolve, and behind him the seas calmed down, and the sky turned to pink and gold...like sunset at the ocean.

I've been working in the garden...some fifteen years now.  And I really believe that I made a choice that day.  As Ernest Holmes says:  "The Father's House is always open, the latch is ever hanging out, the door always ajar, but man must enter, if he wishes to abide within."

And so it is.