It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

— J.K. Rowling

Recently Ellie asked: Do You Believe in Guardian Angels? I choose to believe in Guardian Angels.  I believe that while they may be spiritual beings, they are also physical beings like you and me who choose to encourage one another when the “yuck” overcomes us.

When I was a kid, I knew that my guardian angel not only looked out for me, they sat on one shoulder trying to keep me on the straight and narrow while the devil sat on the other shoulder trying to get me to SIN!!!  In my personal fight to be good, my guardian angel was on the front line of the war between good and evil.  That image of the angel vs. the devil is very disturbing in retrospect because in addition to it inferring that I have my own personal angel, it also inferred that I have my own personal devil.  (Maybe that’s where “The devil made me do it” came from.)

I agree with Ellie that the theological issues behind Guardian Angels and/or Divine Providence intervening are very tricky.  Add free will, and I’m not even going to try to mess with it.  On the other hand, the angels in Touched by an Angel and Saving Grace seem to have one consistent message – I am here to tell you the good news that no matter what, God loves you.  Now that’s a message I can choose to believe in – unconditional love.  Since it is so rare among humans, perhaps it is a divine gift.

Part of what came with the belief in Guardian Angels was a belief that we all had our crosses to bear during life.  For me, these were crosses that God gave us.  I have no memory of this being discussed during religion class, it has just been in my beliefs about the way things work.  Now, as I think back, it seems that this was just common language used to describe life’s adversities within a religious context.  For a Catholic, the idea that you were picking up your cross and following Christ was a powerful one.  Now, I choose to believe that adversity is what happens to all of us.  It is part of life, not God’s “gotcha.”

Truth or Fiction?

Did you notice, I wrote that I could choose to believe.  Choosing to believe something has a very powerful effect on us.  In 10 Things to do When Your Life Falls Apart , Daphne Rose Kingma maintains that over time we develop Life Themes.  These come out of the stories that we tell about ourselves.  Were we neglected, abused, abandoned?  Each of these stories creates feelings that we may wrestle with our entire lives.  And those feelings lead us to develop a set of behaviors that we use as defaults when faced with adversity.  The stories are what we choose to believe about our past and out of those beliefs come our actions today.  (see Finding Lessons in Our Past)

In Excuses Be Gone , Wayne Dyer looks at these stories a little differently.  He calls them our excuses.  They are the reasons we give ourselves for not living up to our potential.  They are the crutches that we lean on when we are still stuck in the same place a month from now, or a year from now.  The excuses are what we choose to believe about our past.

In 17 Lies That Are Holding You Back and the Truth that Will Set You Free , Steve Chandler points out that we tend to expand from one situation to create a “greater truth” around a perceived failure.  This “truth” isn’t necessarily true but when we choose to believe it, we have the reason not to do something difficult or scary.

For example, he writes about believing that the reason that we become less physically fit is because we’re aging.  He lists several examples of how we become less active as we age:

• We use the elevator instead of climbing the stairs.
• We let the valet park the car instead of walking in from the parking lot.
• Even when it comes to housework, the more successful we become the less we do.
• And, research shows that the amount of energy we expend to perform certain tasks is less when we weigh more than when we were lighter.

Chandler goes on to suggest that if we maintained our previous level of physical activity, we could reduce the effect of aging dramatically.

If we choose to believe that we become less fit because we are getting older, then there is nothing to be done.  But, if we choose to believe that we become less fit because we’ve reduced our level of physical activity, then our fitness level can be changed based on what we choose to do.

What Serves You?

In the multi-media world of today, choice is a huge determinant of how we interact with the world.  Since “what bleeds, leads” in the news business, the majority of what we hear or read from the media tends to be the “bad stuff.”  It has seriously undermined our belief in our leaders and in ourselves.  The more we listen, the more uncontrollable life seems, the fewer choices we seem to have.

On the other hand, I would suggest that nothing has really changed except our access to stories that convince us of our powerlessness and victimhood.  Now, those stories show up on more television stations than ever before.  AND they are repeated on web pages throughout cyberspace.

When all is said and done, I choose to believe in Guardian Angels.  I believe that while they may be spiritual beings, they are also physical beings like you and me who choose to encourage one another when the “yuck” overcomes us.  They are people like Wayne Dyer and Steve Chandler and Daphne Rose Kingma and Marianne Williamson, all of whom are committed to helping us to be the best people we can be.  They continually remind us that:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

Stretching to be our best requires courage and commitment.  That we can be our best – this is what I choose to believe.