As we know, nearly every graduation ceremony is called a commencement ceremony. In the next few weeks, many of us will be attending various commencement, or graduation, ceremonies. By definition, to “commence” means to start, or to begin. So, when these graduates receive their diplomas or their degrees, they begin, or “commence”, their next steps toward achieving their dreams and goals.

As these graduates continue on the path of their personal life journey, let me share a few of my favorite commencement quotes, and some of my thoughts regarding these very important graduation events.

• “If we all did the things that we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” – Thomas Edison

• “My favorite animal is the turtle. The reason is that in order for the turtle to move, it has to stick its neck out. There are going to be times in your life when you’re going to have to stick your neck out. There will be challenges, and instead of hiding in a shell, you have to go out and meet them.” – Ruth Westheimer

• “How we interact with others can determine our success or our failure. One rule of success is to treat people as you want to be treated.” – Catherine Pulsifer

• “We become what we think about.” – Earl Nightingale

• “A person is what he or she thinks about all day long.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

• “We cannot lead a choiceless life. Every day, every moment, every second, there is a choice. If it were not so, we would not be individuals.” – Ernest Holmes

It is so important to recall that we all live by choice, and not by chance. And, has been proven by so many scholars, we have this marvelous ability to choose our thoughts, and this leads to our choice of our words and our actions. Therefore, we all have the ability to choose what we think about, to choose our spoken or written words, and we choose our personal actions and interactions with others. If I could give one small bit of advice to those who are graduating, I would suggest that they make good choices with regard to the thoughts they choose, the words they choose, and the actions they choose to take.

Regarding our thoughts, words, and actions, here is a short three letter memory aid with regard to these choices we all make every day of our life. Just recall the three letters, T W A.

T Thoughts

W Words

A Actions

So, let us all focus on a positive attitude as we choose positive thoughts, choose to be positive with the words that we speak, and the actions we take. Regarding our actions, it is especially important to make good positive choices with our interactions with others. Of course, this will include our family, friends, fellow students, co-workers, and many others with whom we are in contact each and every day. I offer my sincere congratulations to all 2016 graduates.

Editor’s note: Dr. Jim Surrell, author of “SOS (Stop Only Sugar) Diet,” has his practice at the Digestive Health Clinic at Upper Peninsula Health System – Marquette. Requests for health topics for this column are encouraged. Contact Dr. Surrell by email at sosdietdoc@gmail.com.