Have you ever heard the French phrase “ C’est votre choix” (Say vo–tra  schwa)?  It’s your choice.

Isn’t it true that our lives really are just a series of non-stop choices and decisions? Am I going to wash my hair today or wait until tomorrow?  What am I going to eat for dinner tonight?  What font am I going to use to write this blog?  Should I call my mother?   And if you are a caretaker, manager, or employee, heap on all those additional decisions you must make for your children, your loved ones, your job. Whew, I’m exhausted just writing this.

When it comes to your image, you have lots of choices.  You can “gift wrap” yourself any way you want. You have control over what you want to convey through your appearance.  The first step is to decide what it is you want to communicate:  congeniality, power, authority, sophistication, trustworthiness, wealth?

Remember, however, there are areas where you simply have neither choice nor control.  And one thing you definitely have no control over is what others think.  Janna Beatty, a truly wise woman, says this: “What another person thinks of you has very little to do with you, but everything to do with how they think.”

I have heard that in any given day, a person will make as many as 5,000 decisions.  Mind-boggling.  Start today by living life based on choices that support your intentions.   Define the goals that are most meaningful to you.  Then focus on making deliberate choices to help you achieve them.   Okay, that was 2 decisions today — only 4,998 more to go.

C’est votre chois.

“You are the choice-maker who can create any change you desire.”

— Deepak Chopra