The Precise Moment of Choice by Jane O'Shea

My heart knows what is important

When I slow down and listen

It kindly reminds me of the simple truth

Each small habit I have makes up the total of how I live

Not the job I do, the house where I live, who I love or what I say

But the choices I make each minute, that sculpt my life

A better life doesn’t come from wishing or wanting

complaining or resenting

nor from therapy or pushing or trying harder

But from the still moments between a

thought and its action

The precise moment when I can choose

To notice those spaces

between impulse and action

between thought and deed

is to choose consciously how I want to live

Not the habitual life I have settled for

or the conditioned life I have inherited

or the hurried life I have manufactured

not even the fantasy life I have imagined

But the mindful life I choose in the precious moments

When I breathe out, before I breathe in

That knows what I really want

Without guilt or shame, shoulds or have tos

Those precious moments that lead me back to my heart

that knows what is indeed important

and create for me the life I desire

No blinding flash of enlightenment

but the soothing spread of contentment

When my deepest inner needs and aspirations

are reflected in the living of each day