I often am telling our children that their job in life is to create, and they do that through the decisions they make.

My daughter replied: “Ok – That’s great.  But how do we know what decisions to make? –  I mean how do we know what is right?”

I said:  “Examine, adjust and repeat.”

She said – “What?”

I broke it down as follows:

• There are no magic answers in life.   What is right for one person may not be right for another.  What is right for you today may not be right for you tomorrow.
• You are the creator of your life – You decide how it will unfold.
• Watch others.   Decide what it is you like about them, and what don’t like.
• Emulate the qualities you like.  Watch yourself to make sure you are not copying the qualities you don’t like.
• At the end of each day, ask yourself what you were proud of and what you wished you had done differently.
• If something “happens” to you, ask yourself how you can change your decisions so it does not “happen” again.
• Life is a series of adjustments.
• The key is training yourself to monitor your decisions.  If you don’t, you likely adopt the decisions of others, and inadvertently allow them to create your life for you.

Examine, Adjust . . . Repeat.

Timothy Velner is a husband, father, attorney and author living in Minneapolis. You can follow his daily blog – a series of discussions between the worry-self and the present-self at – thespiritualgym.me