Father’s Day Phone Call & Choice

I’ll spend today like most Sunday’s.

A little coffee.  Kindle.  Acoustic sunrise.  A little work. A run by the river.

But there will be those 15 minutes.

That Father’s Day phone call that for the first time I won’t get to make.

It certainly provides a moment of pause.  Some reflection.

In considering, I am taking some fatherly advice to heart.

“Choose to be happy.”

Simple.

Requires a little effort in certain moments.  But always a choice I get to make.

That is the premise of Choice Theory courtesy of the William Glasser Institute.

Tools to help make good choices.

7 caring habits. 7 deadly habits. 10 axioms.  Here they are:

The Ten Axioms of Choice Theory:

1.  The only person whose behavior we can control is our own.

2. All we can give another person is information.

3. All long-lasting psychological problems are relationship problems.

4. The problem relationship is always part of our present life.

5. What happened in the past has everything to do with what we are today, but we can only satisfy our basic needs right now and plan to continue satisfying them in the future.

6. We can only satisfy our needs by satisfying the pictures in our Quality World.

7. All we do is behave.

8. All behavior is Total Behavior and is made up of four components: acting, thinking, feeling and physiology.

9. All Total Behavior is chosen, but we only have direct control over the acting and thinking components. We can only control our feeling and physiology indirectly through how we choose to act and think.

10. All Total Behavior is designated by verbs and named by the part that is the most recognizable.

Good stuff.

So, how to choose when confronted with those hard 15 minutes?

Think of good times.  Special moments.  Great memories.  Smile.

Choose happiness.

Happy Father’s Day.