In case anyone was not aware, there is a big election coming up soon in this country (I know it's not in the news much). My wife and I voted recently as there is early voting allowed in our state and I was very glad to get my vote in. It was a breath of relief in many ways. But the process got me thinking about the idea of voting and elections.
We talk about elections and voting at all sorts of levels: at the local level, the county level, the state level and the federal level. I suppose we even talk about it to a certain extent at the international level with votes that takes place at the United Nations. But we don't ever talk about elections at an individual level. We don't ever think about elections within an individual . . . what could that look like?
When we vote, when we have an election, what are we doing? We're voicing our opinion for what we think should happen going forward. But of course we're not the only ones that gets to weigh in on that. Other people get to vote too in order to determine what the outcome is. The outcome determines who we are going to be as a city, state, country, etc. So that outcome is not up to us alone - yet our votes are also very important to the outcome. We're all interconnected by that decision. Talk about Oneness! Millions of people get to cast votes but we have one outcome.
So I was thinking, all throughout our lives, on a daily basis - isn't the same thing happening at an individual level? We make decisions every day - every moment - about what to do (or not do) in our lives. But we're not the only one involved in those decisions. There could be other people that have a direct impact on our decisions: for example someone that has power or authority in your life to limit your choices for you. But then there's also an almost immeasurable amount of people who have an indirect impact on our decisions. This could be someone that impacted the way you think from a young age; someone whose opinion of you concerns you; someone who inspires you to be like them; someone who just simply pointed out an option that you didn't see before - etc.
So I feel like every day, anytime we make a decision, we are sort of having an internal election . . . an individual election! A multitude of people have cast their ballots on what you should do. In fact, in many cases they voted early! But you still get a vote. You get a very important vote! We might even think of it that we all get more than one vote in our own internal elections . . . .or maybe another way to put it would be that sometimes we even have veto power!
. . . every day, anytime we make a decision, we are sort of having an internal election . . . an individual election!
But whatever the outcome of this internal election is - every time you tally up the results and make a decision for your life - you come out a little bit different on the other side, right? You aren't exactly the same person you were before you made that decision. Just like we have a vote in our country's elections and the outcome determines what the country will be like going forward, the outcome of your internal vote determines who you will be going forward. We think we're one unchanging person throughout our lives but actually we're in a state of constant change from these ever-present internal elections.
Of course, unlike in political elections, it's so easy to forget about all those other voters in our internal elections! We think we are the only ones making our decisions. But no matter how important our votes might be, no matter how much veto power we might have (or think we have), we're still interconnected to everyone else . . . their "votes" still impact our decisions. However, it can be very difficult to remember that - we tend to think we're the only ones calling the shots!
So, the more we can recognize all of those other voters around us - be mindful of their impact on us - the more we can develop gratitude and cast an informed vote with our decisions.
Because there's no avoiding elections! If you don't vote in an election that's still a form of a vote, right? Even if you just forget to vote by accident, that lack of a vote will still impact the election and have an impact on the outcome.
It may be no different with an internal election either. If you decide to mentally "check out" and try not to make decisions, ignore what's going on around you, etc. - that's still going to have an impact on you too (often it won't be a positive one.) You are going to feel the impact of the election either way: why not participate mindfully and have a say in who you become?
I think going forward I will use political elections to be great reminders to me of my internal elections and all the other voters that participate in them with me! Every time I see a yard sign for a politician, whether I agree or disagree with them I can still bow in Gassho, because there's an election Buddha reminding me of some votes I need to cast internally for who I want to be.
Maybe we can make yard signs that say "Kindness 2024", "Gratitude 2024" or "Awareness 2024"! So "keep going" . . . and keep voting!