Plato said “the life that is unexamined is not worth living.” In todays busy world how many people slow down long enough to stop and examine their life and how they are living. If we took a regular appraisal of our lives, we would identify many areas in which we could improve and begin to work on ourselves to become better people and create a better life. Isn’t that our goal anyway to be as happy and as productive as we can? So why do we fail to take the necessary steps to creating that life. Why do we continue to go through the motions without stopping to see what is causing the waves? How can one expect to have their best life- if they don’t introspect? I have always been one to attempt to do inner work to improve myself. Yet my entire family thinks I’m a freak. I only have a short time on this planet and I want it to be as good as I can make it. I want it to be better than good. I want it to be a life that brings me continuous joy, happiness, awe, inspiration, and love. Why should I strive for anything less? I think most people feel that their life is basically out of their hands- they don’t feel in control of what happens to them, so they just let things happen. Yes there are many factors in our life that we cannot control but what we can control is how we respond. As the old saying goes “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Besides being able to control how we respond, how we think, and how we feel. We do have more control over the events and circumstances in our lives than we realize. Many of the choices we made yesterday are dictating the terms of our life today. If we practice the art of conscious choice making, where we contemplate our choices/decisions and options before acting, then the results we see in our life will look very different. If you ask yourself this one simple question before making a choice or decision, “Is this good for me and all concerned?” before long the fruit of your choices will be very different and the life you desire will begin to show up. So slow down, stop, look inward, ask yourself the tough questions, be honest with yourself, work on making changes, work on making better choices. It can make a difference and YOU are worth it!