This is indeed a good post to remind us. There is always a choice - we can refer to the twelve links of dependent-arising. It is explained that:
due to the condition of ignorance, action arises;
due to the condition of action, consciousness arises;
due to the condition of consciousness, name and form arise;
due to the condition of name and form, the six sense spheres arise;
due to the condition of the six sense spheres, contact arises;
due to the condition of contact, feeling arises;
due to the condition of feeling, attachment arises;
due to the condition of attachment, grasping arises;
due to the condition of grasping, the potentialized level of karma called existence arises;
due to the condition of existence, birth arises;
due to the condition of birth, aging and death arise.
In reverse order it is explained that:
the unwanted sufferings of aging and death are produced in dependence upon birth;
birth is produced in dependence upon the potentialized level of action called "existence";
existence is produced in dependence upon grasping;
grsping is produced in dependence upon attachment;
attachment is produced in dependence upon feeling;
feeling is produced in dependence upon contact;
contact is produced in dependence upon the six sense spheres;
the six sense spheres are produced in dependence upon name and form;
name and form are produced in dependence upon consciousness;
consciousness is produced in dependence upon action;
action is produced in dependence upon ignorance.
Traditionally, the outer wheel depicts a blind man or woman (representing ignorance); potters (formation); a monkey (consciousness); two men in a boat (mind and body); a house with six windows (the senses); an embracing couple (contact); an eye pieced by an arrow (sensation); a person drinking (thirst); a man gathering fruit (grasping); a couple making love (becoming); a woman giving birth (birth); and a man carrying a corpse (death).
For more detailed explanations, please refer to His Holiness Dalai Lama's
The Meaning of Life: Buddhist Perspectives on Cause and Effect (Jeffrey Hopkins, trans., Wisdom Publications, 2000.)