Halloween is a great time to remind yourself that things are not always what they seem...sometimes we need to pull off the mask and really look at what lies underneathe.

Do you feel you rarely get what you want? Like whenever something drops, it’s always face down? And that no matter what you do, the odds are stacked against you, especially when it comes to relationships? Perhaps it has nothing to do with simple bad luck, but about the simple choices you are making in your life. I have always loved the movie Freaky Friday, because of the one-liner she throws out to her children each morning as they rush out the door. “Make good choices!” When was the last time you consciously stopped to reflect on the choices you have made during the day? Where they based on what was available to you or on what you merely wanted to be available? Let’s say you go to an ice cream store craving chocolate ice cream. In fact, you've been craving it for so long, that by the time you get there, you can almost taste it. When you reach the counter, you can almost feel the chocolate touching your tongue. That is, until they tell you they only have vanilla and strawberry, but no chocolate. What do you do? Do you beg for it, in hopes it will become available or do you make a new choice? The choices are simple: 1- Choose vanilla or strawberry, so you can at least have ice cream. 2- Leave the store without ice cream. 3- Go to a different store in hopes of finding chocolate. The choices we make in relationships are often very similar to the ones we make over chocolate. Whether you’re dealing with friends, co-workers or a significant other, there are choices to be made about what to accept in these relationships. Is it one that you feel good about? If not, what do you do about it? Do you keep choosing chocolate as if it’s a realistic choice, even though it is not? Reflect on the choices you make: 1- Look at relationships in your life that don’t make you happy. 2- List things you could do to make it different. 3- Circle the choices that are available to you. 4- Now choose from that list. Even if the choice isn’t the “chocolate” you were hoping for, at least you can live into the choice you've made. You will be surprised to find that choosing vanilla, or choosing to leave without ice cream, is actually less frustrating than continuing to choose a flavor that simply is not available to you. Making choices based on what’s available will open up other possibilities in your life. Maybe you will discover you actually like vanilla. Or that while you were waiting patiently for chocolate, a new flavor was created that you like even better!

Teleclasses coming in the next issue! Learn how to enjoy the holidays without the stress!

Inspiring Words: What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. *Ralph Waldo Emerson*