[caption id="attachment_457" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The trail ahead"]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0052.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-457" title="DSC_0052" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/DSC_0052-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" /></a>[/caption]

Life is a choice.

In fact, life is a series of choices, and we make so many choices that we're often choosing even when we're not aware of it.

The key -- the difficult part -- is to make as many of those decisions as we can consciously, and to avoid living our lives on automatic pilot.

The other night, when I was driving back from Houston on I-10, I wasn't paying attention to my speed, and a Fayette County sheriff relieved me of $176 for going 83 miles an hour in a 65 zone.

<!--more-->Pretty annoying, huh?

I was actually pleased he hadn't seen me half an hour earlier, when I was barreling along at 88-90. And once I thanked him for the speeding ticket, I made a conscious decision to drive the final 160 miles or so of my journey with my cruise control set at 65 mph.

<em>It seems ironic to use "conscious decision" and "cruise control" in the same sentence, but two speeding tickets in one day would have been far worse.</em>

There are, of course, big decisions and little ones.

If you want to look at it a certain way, you could say that the big decisions set the overall tone for the type of person we want to be, and the small decisions are the day-to-day execution of that plan.

To me there are three big decisions -- love God for the understanding it grants you, let go of the past so that you can live fully in the moment and make an effort to be happy, positive and giving toward other people.

Those three should be your constants, your True North as it is.

But going past that to the daily execution is what really matters. Every time we come into contact with another person, we make a number of decisions. First is the expression on our face and our body language; a smile and a feeling of openness makes a big difference. Second is what we say.

<em>"Hey, great to see you!"</em>

That'll certainly get things off on the right foot.

Be open, be honest, let the other person know that they matter to you and you care that they come away from this encounter feeling good. Get what you need from the meeting, but try and make sure the other person gets their needs fulfilled as well. Nobody will feel happy -- or good toward you -- if they feel like you have cheated them or otherwise worked them in some way.

And when you're done, make a decision to say something nice for the other person to carry away from their meeting with you. You can hope they have a wonderful day, or just letthem know it's always nice to see them and that you wish them well.

Then you start all over again.

If you're really helping to transform the world, the job never ends.