Making the Growth Choice
Author: Sam Quick, Ph.D., and Alex Lesueur, Jr., M.S.L.S., University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service

Life is a continuous series of choices, and with each choice we make, we feed either our positive or negative tendencies. At one time, almost without our awareness, we might choose to be insensitive and strike out at a store clerk or loved one; and at another time, despite our own personal challenges, we find the strength within to comfort a struggling co-worker with a cheerful smile and a much appreciated word of encouragement. Not one of us is perfect, and the best we can do is to make wise choices a conscious and regular part of our lives.

When you frequently think a particular thought, you feed that thought with your time and energy, and it will grow in strength and express itself in your life. For example, have you known someone who constantly worried about being sick? Because they repeatedly feed thoughts of sickness, such people experience more than their share of illness. Our thoughts are like mental magnets; for better or worse, whatever we choose to dwell on, we tend to draw to us.

In each of your daily decision points, one choice is usually the best for you. It’s called the “growth choice” because it promotes your vitality, growth, and happiness. As each of us increases the number of growth choices we make, our loved ones, our communities, and our world family all benefit.

Many of us spend large amounts of time on “automatic pilot,” behaving habitually, almost mechanically. When we’re on automatic pilot, we react to the events of life instead of creatively taking charge. However, when we begin to pay close attention to all our choices and their impact, and take responsibility for our actions, we awaken to a new sense of freedom, power, and possibility.

You and I are always “at choice,” and nearly all of our choices can be understood as yes-no, either-or decisions. Of course, some decisions, such as which job to take or where to live, are more complex and involve a greater variety of factors than deciding whether to have another slice of chocolate ice cream cake. But to a large degree, it is the hundreds of mostly small decisions we make each day that shape our character and our lives.

Each growth choice you make simultaneously promotes your growth and happiness and also the well-being of all those around you. As we become more aware of our decisions and more skilled in making growth choices, a bright new world of opportunity opens up.

Then, even in the most oppressing circumstances, we can stay in charge of our own dignity, feel good about our choices, and be a blessing to others. Psychiatrist, author, and Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl said it well: “We who lived in the concentration camps can remember those who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from us but one thing: the last of our freedoms—the freedom to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

It can’t be emphasized enough: In every circumstance, you have been given free will—the amazing freedom to choose your thoughts, attitudes, and actions.

This gift of choice is your ticket to optimal success in a world filled with problems and almost limitless possibilities. When you awaken fully to your precious gift of choice, new achievements become possible; you grow in happiness; and you have far more to give to loved ones and to our troubled world, which so desperately needs an influx of positive energy.

As Jewish philosopher Martin Buber wisely noted, “You should carefully observe the way toward which your heart draws you, then choose this way with all your strength.”






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