I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments. Oriah Mountain Dreamer

The next time you’re in the grocery store and someone beats you to the empty checkout lane, or the clerk is incredibly slow and you find the energy inside you rising because they should have more clerks (and you’re probably right)—breathe. Yes, breathe and look at your full shopping basket and those of the people in front of and behind you, and appreciate the abundance around you. Embrace the fact that you have all you need—plus you didn’t have to hunt and kill something for dinner. Nor are you filthy and exhausted from tilling the soil. So why work yourself up into a self-righteous tizzy just because you’re going to be home five minutes late?

Not only are you in the grocery store with so many choices for your table, you’re also at the banquet and free to choose how you will behave. Your graceful behavior is not dependent on anyone or anything outside of you. You might make the excuse that someone prompted you to be less than kind, but that in fact is merely an excuse for a poor choice you made. You wouldn’t fill your basket with food that you didn’t like or would make you sick, so what in the world are you thinking by choosing behavior and ingesting thoughts that make you cringe?

Spiritual Contemplation: When you notice energy beginning to escalate in your body, breathe and become conscious that you are at choice for your response. What kind of experience are you going to put in your cart to take home with you?

Affirmation: I am always at choice in my life!