Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
~ Robert Frost
Peace is available to all of us… we simply need to Choose it. And in order to Choose it, we must first acknowledge that we have the power of Choice.
There are an infinite number of paths to walk in each and every moment of our lives, but many of us fall into the routine of continually Choosing the same path over and over again, even when it doesn’t serve us or our higher selves. We fall in love with the same types of people over and over again, we apply to the same jobs, we drive the same roads, and we listen to the same music, day in and day out… And although the names may change, and the beat slows down, nothing is inherently any different than it was the day before.
For some, that is just fine… they are genuinely happy with where they are and what they have. But for most of us, we look out and desire to feel more fulfillment, more joy, more love, more happiness- but how many of us are willing to acknowledge that we are ourselves responsible for creating the environment for that fulfillment to show up? Not many…
That is because too many of us have been conditioned to believe that we do not have Choice, when in fact, Choice is the most beautiful and powerful tool each and every one of us has available to us in every moment- we must merely become present to that fact, and then everything else will shift.
If we Choose Peacefulness, we are creating a context, or environment, that engages and allows for Peace to arise. That context is the framework which dictates what thoughts, feelings, and emotions are then available to us in those moments. One cannot have thoughts of revenge when genuinely accessing a State of Being of Peacefulness- they simply cannot coincide. It would be the equivalent of seeing a whale sliding itself on the sand through the middle of the dessert.
Peacefulness is only one among an infinite set of States of Being from which we may Choose. Others include Love, Joy, Fear, Anger, Abundance, Acceptance, Scarcity, Apathy… And in practicing Choice of States of Being, we are literally constructing the framework which will support what we want to show up in our lives. It is what supports everything else. You need rich soil and water if you want a flower to grow…
Too often, humans continue to take the same path they always have, to Choose the same States of Being that they always have, and that is why they continue to manifest the same disappointment, unfulfillment, and pain that they always have. But it doesn’t have to stay this way…
Each of us can stop and get present… recognize the paths that diverge in the wood… and Choose the ones less traveled by… The paths of Love, Acceptance, Abundance, Freedom, Peace, and Joy…
And in every moment we do that, we create the context for others to do the same…
In those moments, we “become the change we wish to see in the world.”
In those moments, we are Free.