What hits me first today is the date: July 28. How is that possible? I thought you might like to know there are 150 days left until, you guessed it, Christmas. In Colorado, we go from the sun and hot to sun and cold; mosquitos to icicles; and yard beautification to negligence.

I’ve always said, “Colorado is hard to leave.” The four seasons are not as severe as when I was a kid, but we still get them, and, in my book, that is good. Sure, it is nice to be someplace where the backdoor doesn’t prop the snow scoop out of necessity, and I can leave the house without a down coat, mittens, and earmuffs, but I also don’t get to watch snowflakes fall.

I am talking about choices—we all get them, and we make hundreds every day. Depending on how they turn out, choices fall somewhere in the range of good, okay, and evil. Choices land in one of those categories because of our perception—how we mentally process decisions and their consequences. We don’t choose everything tossed our way, but we do choose the majority.

I recently heard Oprah speak of whispers—our inner voice. She talked about the little clues or cues we get that lead us to do something, something else or nothing. Her message included the importance of hearing our whispers to avoid getting the brick in the side of our heads—clunk. Maybe that’s called “Learning the hard way.”

Simple choices can pave paths to significant oops. For example, this week, I decided to sweep leaves off the patio. From nowhere, tiny black creepy crawlies bit my feet and ankles, and I was miserable for three days with itching and swelling. My little whisper told me to put on socks and tennis shoes, but I thought sweeping would take only a few minutes, and I chose not to change my sandals.

I wonder if we would make wiser choices if we imagined our whispers being cops? Wouldn’t it be convenient if we had a loud voice and big whistle directing us to be wise? In Estes Park, there are young people directing traffic at major intersections. They wouldn’t need the job if people had the good sense and common courtesy to walk when the little green guy flashed and to stand patiently with the red hand. These traffic cops have big voices and have no trouble yelling, “STOP,” “STAY,” or “WALK.” Pedestrians don’t have to think; they just follow the directives.

Maybe, if told what to do, we make fewer mistakes. But, we have a brain to think with and knowledge gained from experiences. Those add up to the development of wisdom—personal whispers that guide our choices. We lose freedom to choose and the confidence to trust our inner voice (whispers) when we don’t practice listening to ourselves.

Yep, choices and voices—we all get them.

Until the next time: Live while you live.

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