A story: Once upon a time, a wise man traveled from town to town in a faraway kingdom, sharing his wisdom. He was beloved by all, except for two disgruntled villagers who envied his reputation. After many moons of discontent, one of the men hit upon a way of proving the wise man a fool. “Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll catch a butterfly and ask the wise man if it’s alive or dead. If he says, “Alive,’ I’ll crush it. If he says, ‘Dead,’ I’ll do the same. Either way, I’ll prove him wrong.”

The next time the sage arrived, the man found a butterfly and took it to him while he was surrounded by admiring villagers. Hiding the imprisoned butterfly, he asked, “Is the creature I hold alive or dead?” The wise man looked at him quietly and said, “The answer is in your hands. It’s your choice.”*

It’s your choice. My choice. Our choice. Every day, the answer to whatever we need to do to improve our writing and get to the next level lies in our hands.

We can hide our creativity, imprison it, or even stifle it.

We can let ourselves be distracted by things that aren’t important.

We can let fear stop us from tackling the challenges we face.

We can let our mood dictate our actions and let our energy flutter away.

We can hold back and be timid and fail to fly.

Or, we can let our creativity free – and soar.

We can bring focused energy and intention to the work of the day.

We can see our fears as paper tigers and push past them.

We can let our actions dictate our attitude – and move forward.

We can decide to go all out instead of holding back.

This day is ours. We hold the butterfly of life in our hands. Let’s free it and all write on!

*This story comes to us via Dr. Rob Gilbert’s fabulous Success Hotline: 973.743.4690.