“There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be…”  ~ John Lennon

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”   ~ William Shakespeare

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”   ~ William Jennings Bryan

One of my favourite topics ever is to talk about destiny.  I am a true believer in destiny, and then some.  As far as I can remember, I always looked at everything from this perspective. And till this day I do.

Everyone looks at the movie of their life from afar and see what they want to see.  You remember the things that your mind allows you and you block out the things that your mind does not want you to remember.  Especially if it was too painful for you to handle. We all had dramatic experiences in our lives, there is no escaping from that.  No one had a perfect life.  If it wasn’t in your childhood days, then it was in your adolescent years or in your adult life down to your retirement days.  At some point you lived through tough times; you experienced loss, you felt broken, you fell apart, you struggled, you had to make choices you didn’t want to make, you were put in situations you wish you were never in, you said things you wish you can take back, you did things you can’t believe you did, and sometimes you look back at your life and think, if I had to do it all over again, would I make the same decisions?

Some of us wish we had a chance for a “do-over”, and some wouldn’t change a thing, not because it was all great, but because we accept things as what they are with its good and bad and we understand the value of the events that occurred in our lives that led us to the point where we are today.

I am one of those people who wouldn’t change a thing even though my life has been nothing but trials and tribulations up until now.  But I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I believe in my heart I met all the people I was meant to meet.  I lost touch with those that no longer were positive influence in my life, through the oddest of ways. And I still have the people in my life that are meant to be in it for a bigger purpose than my own comprehension.  And I also believe that the people I will be meeting in the future will be in my life for a reason that will present itself in due time.  I never know why things happen the way they do.  They just do.  Even though I feel that I have a part to play in how things turn out as I am the one that makes the decisions.  I think things through, I weigh out my options, I choose my path by the choices I make.  Nevertheless, with my part to play in it, Destiny is still there.  I was destined to make those choices after all. I was destined to meet those people. I was destined to be at a certain place at a certain time for a certain event to take place that is beyond my knowledge.

Some of you may disagree with what I am saying. You may believe that you are in control of how things turn out because it is you that makes it happen.  And I will not disagree with that thought at all.  I just take that a step further and I say: yes you did it yourself, but it was meant to be that you would do it. The choices we make give us the results that create our lives. Whether you choose to go right or left, it was destined from the start.  Whether you fail or succeed, it was destined from the start.  Whether you live or die, it was destined from the start.  Every decision we take, puts us on a path of some sort, we may have two roads to travel, we will choose one of them, and along the way, you experience things that you have to deal with one way or another.  You have some good times along that road and you also have some bad times, you may have to climb over mountains and swim through rivers to get to the other side. Some of us get stuck and stay stagnant for a long time trying to figure out how to cross to the other side.  Some ask for help, some do it on their own.  Some get there faster than others, some may fall more than once until they get it done.  Some give up and find a way to live just where they are and forget about crossing to the other side.  We all have a choice to make in the end, and the one we choose is the one we are destined for. You believe what you choose to believe, even if you choose to follow what someone else tells you, that was still your choice.  And if you choose to follow your own instincts, listen to your own heart and your own reason; it was still a choice that you made for yourself.  No one is in control of our destiny, we are.  No one makes you do things, we do.  No one is to blame when we make mistakes and fall down, it is all our doing.

I say all this and I have no clue what my destiny is.  I believe in what I believe and I still do not fully understand it.  All I do is just live day by day, make my decisions, go along the path I choose and wherever it may lead me, that is where I am destined to be and I fully accept that. Do you?