Although our inattention can contribute to our lack of total

Hear the wisdom of Greg Anderson, who proclaimed: “Although our inattention can contribute to our lack of total well-being, we also have the power to choose positive behaviors and responses. In that choice we change our every experience of life!” These words speak as both warning and promise. They remind us that much of human suffering does not come solely from the cruelty of fate, but from our own inattention, our drifting through life without awareness, allowing fear, bitterness, and neglect to take root. Yet, Anderson also lights a torch of hope—revealing that within every soul lies the power to choose, and through choice, the power to transform the very texture of existence.

For to be inattentive is to live as though asleep, carried by currents we do not notice, reacting blindly rather than consciously. It is in this state that despair creeps in, that well-being fades, and that we feel powerless. But the moment we awaken and remember that we are free to decide our responses, a miracle occurs. We are no longer victims of circumstance but authors of our story. By choosing positive behaviors, we turn wounds into wisdom, obstacles into stepping stones, and each moment into an opportunity for renewal.

Consider the story of Viktor Frankl, the physician who endured the horrors of Nazi concentration camps. Surrounded by suffering, starvation, and death, he discovered that while man cannot always choose his circumstances, he can always choose his response. Frankl chose hope over despair, meaning over emptiness, dignity over degradation. This choice gave him strength to survive and later to inspire millions through his book Man’s Search for Meaning. His life is a living testament to Anderson’s truth: in the act of choosing our inner posture, we change our very experience of life.

So too, in the annals of history, we find Nelson Mandela, who after twenty-seven years of unjust imprisonment emerged not with vengeance but with forgiveness. His inattention could have left him chained to bitterness, yet instead he cultivated awareness, choosing reconciliation over hatred. In that choice, he not only transformed his own soul but altered the destiny of a nation. His story reminds us that the key to freedom is not always in the breaking of chains, but in the conscious choice of how we meet suffering.

The meaning of Anderson’s words is thus: our lives are shaped less by what happens to us, and more by how we attend and respond to what happens. Attention awakens clarity; choice awakens freedom. Every time we choose patience over anger, gratitude over complaint, or compassion over judgment, we alter the entire atmosphere of our existence. The world may not change in that instant, but our experience of the world does, and in time, that shift changes everything around us.

The lesson for us is clear: train your mind to notice. Do not drift as one asleep, for inattention is the thief of joy. When trials come, remember you hold the power to respond with light rather than darkness. This does not deny pain; it transforms it. By choosing the positive, you turn each moment into a teacher, each burden into a path of growth.

Practical wisdom calls us to three acts. First, practice daily reflection, even for a few minutes, to awaken awareness of your thoughts and choices. Second, when faced with hardship, pause before reacting, and ask: “What positive response can I choose here?” Third, cultivate habits of kindness, gratitude, and self-discipline, for these are the behaviors that train the soul to remain steadfast. With each choice, your life becomes less a series of accidents and more a masterpiece of conscious creation.

So let it be remembered: the destiny of man is not fixed by the stars alone, nor by the blows of fortune, but by the choices of the heart. Positive behaviors and responses are the brushstrokes by which we paint our lives. Greg Anderson’s words are a timeless summons: awaken from inattention, seize the freedom of choice, and by doing so, transform not only the path you walk, but the very way you behold the world.