Action Trumps Thought

We are always talking about what we want, what we intend. But these are dreams and wishes and are of little value in changing our mood or our world.

We are not what we think, or what we say, or how we feel. We are what we do. The value we bring to our lives and to our world comes from the actions we take.

The good intentions we harbor don’t really matter unless we act on them.

And sometimes we think that talking about them somehow gives us brownie points.

I do know that talking about them can dissipate the energy that I was going to use to carry them out! And I also know that unless I do something, it won’t matter what my intention was.

Conversely, in judging other people we need to pay attention not to what they promise but to how they behave. This simple rule could prevent much of the pain and misunderstanding that infect our human relationships.

Our wishful thinking about someone else changing their behavior just because they said they would doesn’t serve us or the relationship. Actions do trump thoughts and words!

I think Aesop of Aesop’s Fables certainly encapsulates a noted truth:

 

So maybe what we need to do is to talk less and do more. Wouldn’t that surprise the folks around us? And maybe even set a good example?

We are drowning in words. We are a verbal species, much given to the use of words to explain.

 

It’s only appropriate in this month of February, this weekend of Valentine’s Day, to quote Eliza Doolittle of My Fair Lady (Audrey Hepburn? Julie Andrews?) singing with frustration to Freddy:

“Don’t talk of love lasting through time.
Make me no undying vow. Show me now!
Sing me no song! Read me no rhyme!
Don’t waste my time, Show me!
Don’t talk of June, Don’t talk of fall!
Don’t talk at all! Show me!”

So what action can you take to show your love to someone?

What action would you like someone to take to show you their love?

Just go and do it now!