On Choosing Life

To live is to choose — again and again. Life is not a single, sweeping decision but a series of small, daily choices: to rise, to reach out, to love, to create meaning even when it would be easier to retreat.

In the midst of suffering, many people ask: What is the point? How do I go on? These are not questions to be solved but invitations to explore what it means to live authentically.

Choosing life does not mean ignoring pain or covering it with forced positivity. Rather, it means acknowledging our wounds and still stepping forward. It is about cultivating the courage to face uncertainty, to love despite the risk of loss, and to hold joy and sorrow in the same tender hands.

We are not merely surviving; we are shaping our lives with each breath, each act of kindness, each moment of connection. In this way, life becomes not something that simply happens to us but something we actively create — a work of art in progress.

Victor Frankl wrote, "Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose." When we connect to what gives us purpose — love, creativity, service, spiritual depth — life reveals its texture and richness, even in its fragility.

May you choose life each day, in all its complexity. May you find moments of wonder, intimacy, and meaning. And may you come to see your life not as a series of problems to be fixed, but as a story to be lived fully and deeply.

Life

"I was traveling, and I met with a child at a crossroads.  I asked him, 'which way to the city?' and he answered: 'This way is short and long, and this way is long and short.'

"I took the 'short and long' way.  I soon reached the city but found my approach obstructed by gardens and orchards.  So I retraced my steps and said to the child: 'My son, did you not tell me that this is the short way?'  Answered the child: 'Did I not tell you that it is also long?'"

The 'short and long' way seemed the most direct and surest way to town; but in truth, the direct approach is a dead end.  It might seem to lead directly to the city but somehow it never quite makes it.  

On the other hand, the long but short way is winding, steep, tedious, and long as life itself.  It is full of ups and downs, setbacks and frustrations.  It demands every once of intellectual and emotional stamina the human being can muster.  But it is a road that leads, steadily and surely, to the aspired-to-destination.  

The Lubavitcher Rebbe

Life

Each of us was born with his individual Mazzal (his cause or purpose) - Let me help you find yours.  

"You will be given of what belongs to you, and no one can touch what is prepared for another." (Yoma 38b)

Life

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny”. Lao Tzu

 

New Year

Depth:  Reflect on the meaning of your life.  Count your hours - not your calories:  What did you do with your hours.  Keep a diary of your hours.  If you were followed by a camera all day long what would you watch yourself doing?  Ask yourself do you want to be a better person in the new year; do you want to grow?