Karma is the law of consequences: what you do today has consequences tomorrow. Karma has nothing to say about blame, or about what you ‘deserve’. It’s simply that what your life is like today is a result of decisions and choices you made in the past. Of course, you can’t change the past, but you CAN change your future, by changing the choices and decisions you make TODAY.
If your life continues as it is today, what does the future promise? Look down the road to the probable outcomes and consequences of what you decide and choose today. This question is valid in your personal life, family life, career, relationships, education, personal development. In fact, it’s valid in any aspect of life that I can think of.
If you continue doing what you’re doing today, what future are you writing? If it’s not the future you really want, the time is NOW to decide how to change your ways today to write the future you want tomorrow.
Make sense?
What you have to do is take action!!
I wrote that awhile back and it’s been languishing in draft mode. Today I had a serious talk with myself about my blog, and pointed out to myself that although I say my blog is a high priority in my life, I don’t ACT as if it is. So here I am today, basically pulling myself up by the scruff of my shirt, shouting in my face, ‘Hey!! Expect more from yourself!’
If I continue this road of not writing for weeks, what sort of future am I creating? (Not to mention what sort of reputation am I building with myself. We won’t even go there!) If I keep not writing, here’s my future: full of regret that I didn’t do anything to help when I could have, unlikely I’ll have written that book, not a single person would have hired me to work with them on anything, one more abandoned blog site in the blog-o-sphere (with my name all over it, so my grandchildren can see me NOT doing what I said was important), self-confidence low because I don’t finish what I start (or do what I say I’m going to do), lots of fun missed out on, too much television watched, and so on.
What I needed to do was get leverage on myself. It’s easy to list the benefits of blogging. I can even see the benefits of not blogging. But what are the costs associated with each? The costs of blogging are website maintenance (which can be non-trivial), time spent finding out what people are wanting to read about, time spent in improving my writing skills, and also time spent improving my time management skills. So, now what are the costs associated with NOT blogging? All those listed in the paragraph above. That’s where my leverage lies!
In a nutshell: I don’t want the future that not-blogging ensures I’ll get more than I don’t want the future that blogging will bring. Get it? The cost to me of not blogging is high in terms of the future I create.
So here’s a blog entry. May you find that it relates to something you’ve been thinking about.
I am very happy to receive your email, and read this again. I have made a poster for myself of the statement:
If your life continues as it is today, what does the future promise?
I went to a quilt retreat for 2 days last weekend, and took 3 things I wanted to finish. Different for me. An apron from my son who opened a new restaurant in New Orleans, a wall hanging that was 8 years old, and a quilt for my son Scott that was also 8 years old. My goal was to finish all 3 and not leave until I was done, and not move to another project.
Well, I finished the apron, ran to the Post Office and mailed it immediately. I finished the wall hanging, and started on the queen size log cabin quilt. I worked until 11:00 pm on Saturday night. And it is finished. It is beautiful, and will be sent to be quilted on Saturday. Finally. I had taken out 64 squares and resewn them, as my son bought a different bed. I have to replace on piece on all squares to be able to add more squares. I am DONE. I did not want to continue to think about it. So I changed my behavior, and only worked on something until it was finished. And that allowed me to complete 3 things, rather than 20 things partly finished.
So I did not continue as I did the day before or at previous retreats or sewing days. I started and finished, and this will be my new way. I will have to work at it, but it works, and I see that.
Thank you for the reminder, and the blog.
Linda
Hi Linda,
Thanks for visiting my blog, and for leaving a comment. It’s a great feeling, I think, to make a positive change in your life. A lifetime of habit can be very tough to shift, but you seem to have learned how to shift this one. Well done!