The key to a more fulfilling and purposeful life lies in consistent, positive Action.
It’s an exciting time to be alive. Today we have available to us, things, facilities and knowledge that our ancestors could only dream of. Life changing wisdom is no longer confined to the remote corners of the Himalayas; it’s available at the click of a button or in the nearest bookstore.
This never ending repertoire of knowledge available to us today has empowered us to live our lives at the highest potential. Yet, our modern day generation is struggling with serious mental and physical issues.
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in 1963 – “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.” (Strength to Love, 1963)
We have evolved since 1963. Today, we have the technology to look for ice 35 million miles away on Mars but we are still struggling with finding peace, fulfilment and purpose at home.
So what stops us from utilizing all these resources, knowledge and technology to lead a more fulfilling, meaningful and peaceful life? Why do we remain contented with our current reality and choose to do nothing about it?
The most powerful reason, in my opinion, is the failure to take action.
In the end, it all comes down to action. Everything originates in the realm of thought but to be of any benefit to the real world, we have to convert that thought into reality using the power of action. And that’s the part where most of us either give up, procrastinate or talk ourselves out of following the path that our soul urges us to follow.
All man made things that we enjoy in our material world, originated with a thought or an inspired idea but were followed through by someone to bring it into physical form.
This technology that enables me to wirelessly connect to the Internet and to bring my thoughts to the people around the globe, originated with a thought or an idea of an individual or a group. Their desire to make a difference to the world and their ability to convert their thoughts and ideas into reality worked hand in hand to make this ‘wishful thinking’, real.
I have immense respect for the ‘thought world’ because that is where everything originates. Creativity, Improvement and Excellence all originate in our mental realm first before we translate them into reality by the virtue of our actions. But wouldn’t the world be a better place and wouldn’t we all be more fulfilled and healthy if we all made a commitment to convert more things from the ‘thought world’ to the ‘real world’?
We all have great treasures hidden in our mental realms. But these treasures are only of value in the real world. Whether we choose to hold them back into the ‘thought world’ and carry them to our graves or whether we decide to bring these gems out of the ‘thought world’ into the material world, is purely a matter of internal choice. Luck, fate and the traffic have nothing whatsoever to with it. When we begin to choose positive action, that’s when magic begins to happen in our lives.
Deep down we all want to evolve into better human beings. We carry these desires hidden inside ourselves and fail to take action. And then we comfortably accept our current state of affairs as fate. And there is one simple yet powerful thing that can help us create the life of our dreams – and that is action. Consistent, decisive, timely and firm, action.
Our internal conversations in our subconscious brain are responsible for the choices we make. The choice between doing something right away and procrastinating it, originates after our internal dialogue is over and our subconscious hands us the verdict. Every time we let procrastination, fear and hesitation win, we make these dark forces even stronger and more difficult to overcome.
An old Native American story beautifully illustrates the game of internal dialogue. An elder Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me.. It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith."
"This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too", he added.
The Grandchildren thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his Grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee simply replied... "The one you feed."
There is not a better diet for empowering joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith than actually living a life practicing these virtues; originating in thoughts and followed through by actions.
Positive action sets off a spark of internal change that marks the beginning of the end of all those negative behavioural patterns that you may wish to eliminate from your lives.
So what treasures from the ‘thought world’ will you bring into reality today?
