Agency

Working in rural Ethiopia for nearly a decade has shown me the true meaning of agency.  To me, agency means choice.  All humans (fully formed humans not in bondage) have it, it is part of the human brain condition.  Many of us forget it, though, because we don't like our choices.  But what some of the most impoverished, remote, isolated people were able to achieve through the use of their agency - employing their motivation, vision, and hard work within the reality of their conditions - was astounding.  

Somehow, it seems that in our culture, we have confused liking our choices with having choices.  

There is an important distinction to be made between liking our choices and having choices.  Just because we don't like our choices doesn't mean we don't have them.  We always do.

The sooner we take complete responsibility for seeing the choices available to us, and consciously making a choice, the sooner we are restored to our internal power.

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