Choices

I like a la carte. I am a selector. However, life has presented me with selections that have been more and more challenging as I've grown older. When I was young, I took a little of this and a little of that. Sometimes I took too much of this and way too much of that. Youth and good health were tremendous buffers against bad choices. But now each choice seems to matter more and its consequences seem more immediate, more drastic. For example, I developed gout from one of the many assaults on my body by medications that were needed for other things. Now I have to make dietary choices every day to avoid the acute pain that comes with gout attacks. Recently I had to make a choice to discontinue a medication which relieves neurological pain in my feet. Why? Well, the same medicine was threatening the long term functioning of my kidneys. Pain or kidneys? It was a no-brainer, but it wasn't easy to choose pain. Learning that choices have repercussions beyond immediate gratification or discomfort is a valuable lesson about being human. Learning to relish choice itself, despite the unpleasantness of some of the options, enhances my life and makes me value consciousness. Valuing consciousness helps me to practice mindfulness. Mindfulness feeds compassion and responsibility of action.