Last week, for the first time ever, I went to Michaels, the famous crafts store. (Yes, it’s true. I had never been to Michaels before!)

When you walk into Michaels you can’t help but be struck by the reams and reams of choice – shelves filled with glitter and sparkle, baskets and baskets of yarn, row upon row of jewellery fixings and the colours, wow, the colours! In ribbons alone there were hundreds of colours to choose from.

And that’s what got me thinking about choice.

I noticed right away that for each craft area, whether it was jewellery or cake decorating, whether it was something I do all the time or something I’ll likely never do, I found myself exploring what I would choose.

“If I was going to make a cake, I would make this one.”

“If I was going to pick a pendant, it would be this one.”

“If I was going to get washi tape, it would be this one.”

It reminded me of when I was a little girl and my mom would bring home pattern books from the fabric store. I would curl up on the floor of her sewing closet, cozy amidst piles of material and I would pore over every page. Each pattern would come with several options and I would sit there thinking,

“This collar but that length.”

“This waistline and that colour.”

“Those sleeves and that neckline.”

And last weekend when I was making my Full Buck Moon dreamboard, I noticed the same process. As I flip through hundreds of images, I’m looking for the ones that speak specifically to me.

“Yes, that dog, that feather, those flowers.”

“This, not that.”

“This is me. This is not me. This is the me I am becoming.”

Our choices are micro-movements on the way to our dreams.

When I choose to go for a run or paint or I write a letter or wear red, each choice is an opportunity to know myself better, to express myself more, to unfurl what’s in me, to move toward what calls me.

Sitting at the blank canvas, I choose purple and Shannon chooses orange. Out for dinner with Suzie, she’ll choose seafood and I’ll choose anything else! Picking paint with Justin, he’ll will look for striking contrast and I’ll look for monochromatic delight.

These are our ways. These preferences signal who we are. Our choices become how we live.

This doesn’t mean that suddenly every choice becomes heavy, fraught with the burden of the entire weight of our life and our identity. They’re more like holograms, even the smallest piece holds the essence of the whole. Each piece does not have to hold the whole weight because every one does.

Let it be light. Pay attention to your choices and enjoy them. Know that in each day there are millions of little opportunities for you to lightly, easily step towards your full expression and the life you dream of. This might look like saying yes to raspberries, yoga and sleeping in or it might look like choosing an early morning hike and a purple sweater. It might look like champagne cocktails with friends downtown or hours of introspective writing at a local café.

What will you choose?

What do your choices express about who you are?

How will your choices impact who you become?