With several landmark decisions having recently come from the Supreme Court of the United States of America, the word “choice” is pulsating in headlines, social media posts, conversations, commentaries, and people’s hearts and minds. Big Ocean Women had already planned to focus on our tenet, “We are free to choose, and willingly accept responsibility for our choices” per of our regular rotation, but it comes at a good time. Every day as part of the human experience we are faced with myriad choices. Some things have become automatic for us as we have learned and created habits and routines to bring order to our lives. Some of the choices we face may have no weight in the grand scheme of things. Some of the daily choices we make add up over time and small things can lead to great accomplishments or challenges that we have created for ourselves. Some choices are much more important. Some are so important that they require preplanning for eventualities – like the slogan teaching children to “Just Say No!” – hopefully helping them prepare themselves for what to say if they are offered drugs. Some important choices require study, thought, advice, prayer for guidance, and then faith to move forward. All choices, as Tricia reminds us, have consequences attached. We don’t get to choose what the consequences will be, but we can plan and look ahead and work for the future we want. If we find ourselves in a place we do not want to be mentally, Norma explains how we can choose to work to change the wiring in our heart and mind. Emily shares with us information about how important it is for us to be able to choose to recognize, name, explore, and feel our feelings, and Kaylee describes the hope and freedom one Holocaust survivor has helped people find in choosing to focus on joy. We also have the wonderful opportunity this month to get to know Kaylee a little better as Emily introduces us to her in our Meet Big Ocean feature. Shelli expounds on the memories and traditions that can be formed around the daily choice that answers the question, “What’s for dinner?” We are also blessed to have a message from Lyn about choosing how we communicate, and how we respond to others’ communication as well. In the end, we cannot control the choices of anyone but ourselves, and even that can be hard to do, so it is important to choose to be kind to ourselves and others as we muddle through this life. Policies will shift and change. Laws will be written and rewritten. It is unlikely that all of humanity will ever agree on everything, but we encourage you to choose to find common ground with your neighbors to work to build better communities and societies with hope, help, and compassion for all.
