Choosing anger and eventually landing in a state of hatred seems to be an easy choice. Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation today begins with “…the energy with which we do things matters. To be in love is to stand in a different space. Love is not what we do; it’s how we do it.”

I have said this to my teacher education students for years. “We teach as we live.” We model. The see. Who we are is the energy we bring to the classroom, what they see. I think this extends to anything, therefore, we live as we live. Sounds like a Yogi Berra quote. Rohr poses this question. “How can my existence on this earth increase the quality of life on this planet?” I might change this to, “…the quality of life of the planet?” to emphasize that as the planet goes so go we.

If we choose love as not something we do sometimes but as how we are, then, how does that impact how I live, day to day, moment to moment. Rohr concludes his daily meditation with “When we’re not choosing love, we’ll use any excuse to be unhappy or irritated.” From this starting point of unhappiness it’s just a few steps to anger and then to resentment and then to hate.

Now, those emotions are powerful, seductive, and can have a place, can be an effective motivator. Change and progress can come from such a place. In fact, probably almost always does. However, so can evil acts of cruelty and violence. We are seeing an increasing amount of this right now.

How can your anger over an injustice lead to making the earth a better place for all? Or can it have the opposite impact? Who and what is motivating you to action and then to what action?

Choosing love as a starting point, as a foundation upon which to build your daily actions means you are choosing inclusion and reciprocity with others–with other humans and with other life, with the planet. Choosing love is choosing life, choosing collaboration, choosing to lift up all.

Choosing resentment and hate as a starting point, as a foundation upon which to build your daily actions requires an object of that hate. This can only lead to division and acts of violence, physical, emotional, verbal toward an “other.” Choosing this path is easier, it would seem, though I don’t know why. Choosing this path only ends one way: unhappiness and eventually self-destruction. We are seeing an increasing amount of this right now too.

So, which will you choose and how might you enact this?