The Power of Choosing to Respond to Life Instead of React

It’s not always easy to respond when life comes at you especially when there’s so much chaos and unpredictability in the world. You may feel like you are powerless when it comes to health, financial, or relationship issues. Yet, you can take your power back by choosing to respond to life. Being responsible, “able to respond,” gives you the power to be the co-creator of your life and not the victim of your circumstances. 

Our lives are made of up of a series of choices everyday—-whether or not we get out of bed, what we eat during the day, how we spend our time, whether to continue with a relationship, or what we do for a career. Each and every choice we make brings us closer to our dreams or away from them. Such choices either align with our soul’s path or not. Yet, the most important choice we can make every day is to respond rather than react to whatever comes into our lives. 

How many times have you said to yourself? “I don’t have a choice.” For example, you may feel you can’t decline a family invitation, say no to a friend, or tell your boss you’re not available to stay late. However, you do have a choice; not over their choices or the circumstances, but rather how you respond to them.  

Taking your power back begins with choosing to be “response-able.” When you take responsibility for the energy you bring by becoming more aware of your intentions, thoughts, feelings, and choices, you will transform your life and the world. 

Just hearing the word responsibility may feel like a heavy weight. Yet, I’m referring to your spiritual responsibility, the innate responsibility that came with choosing to be here on earth as a spiritual being in human form at this time. You chose your body, gender, parents, and your circumstances and are thus responsible for your life. You wrote your parts into your own script before you were born. Yet, the awareness that you made these choices before you were born can empower you to respond to your life from a broader, more spiritual perspective.  

You hold the power to respond rather than react to your circumstances, a power you never lose as long as you live. This energetic power comes from your heart (soul) whereas reacting comes from your head (ego). Responding to life is essential in making more enlightened, discerning choices.  

Every situation in life―good, bad, or neutral―is an opportunity to become free of fear, to open your heart to yourself and receive whatever information you need to spiritually grow.  

Here are 3 ways to take your power back and be responsive to life: 

1. Give Yourself the Permission to Pause: When you find yourself reacting to any person or situation: pause, step away, take some deep breaths, drop into your heart space, and tune in to what’s going within you. This immediately helps you to stop reacting so you can respond from your heart. Taking time out to pause interrupts your knee-jerk reactions so you can observe the situation from a more expansive perspective. This will allow you to see what unhealed part of you is being triggered. The earlier you catch your reaction, the easier it is to restore your emotional balance and be responsive. 
2. Reflect on Your Recent Choices: Ask yourself these questions and write the answers in your journal: Do I take responsibility for my choices and the life I’ve created? Or do I give my power away, by blaming others, procrastinating what I know needs to be done, or avoiding responsibility? Do I secretly hope it will all go away or that someone will do it for me? Do I take responsibility for my health and well-being, emotional maturity, and spiritual growth? Or do I keep making the same choices which bring me the same results? 
3. Be Accountable for the Energy You Project: When you accept responsibility for the divine energy that flows through you, you are powerful to envision and then co-create whatever you want in life. Everything is made up of energy and energy can be directed either positively or negatively. You can channel your energy positively through being able to respond. By reacting, you direct the energy negatively and lose your power.  

Choosing to respond is a powerful tool that comes from being accountable for your life. It helps you make more discerning choices such as who to partner, what to create, and handle whatever is happening in your life a positive way.  

It’s time to take your power back and choose to respond to life. Time to trust your inner power to change what you can, let go of what you can’t change, and let the rest be. Most of all, be responsible for co-creating the life you want instead of relinquishing your power to forces outside yourself.