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abundance, happiness, highest life, highest self, life, success
Actions create outcomes — it’s a simple concept but one that often escapes people (myself included) when the way life is and the way we want life to be do not match up.
Consider the common problem of clutter. Actions can either lead to less clutter (steps are taken on a regular and ongoing basis to reduce clutter) or more (a one time effort is made or no steps are taken, the same actions that led to clutter keep occurring, clutter persists or worsens.)
Another example might be a personal goal, such as losing weight. Actions can either lead to weight loss (increase physical activity combined with a balanced, low calorie, high nutrition eating plan on a regular and ongoing basis) or not (any change is shortly abandoned or no increased physical activity, no change in eating habits.)
Perhaps the goal is financial stability. Actions can lead to financial stability (live below ones means, put extra toward debt reduction and savings on a regular and ongoing basis) or not (continue to live above one’s means or paycheck to paycheck.)
This concept also applies to relationships. Actions can lead to better and more satisfying relationships (taking steps on a regular and ongoing basis to nurture the relationship, increase positive experiences, and reduce negative ones) or not (give little or no thought or action toward improving relationships.)
As you may see, this simple but powerful concept can apply to all sorts of situations. And in every case the solution to whatever the problem is to TAKE ACTION. And often to take that action on a REGULAR and ONGOING basis.
Think of them as habits. At first doing things differently can seem forced and uncomfortable. But after about 21 days, experts say new actions become habits. Once this happens, those behaviors become part of the operational plan — working for (or against) you on autopilot.
So if there is something in your life that you wish were different the good news is in almost every case there is something you can do to change that — take action in the direction you would rather things be and then keep doing so until and after you reach the goal. The path from where you are to where you want to be is just that easy — and also just that hard if you want the outcome but aren’t taking the actions required to produce it.
It’s been said that often the biggest obstacle we face is our-self. In most cases the only thing holding us back from what we want out of life is our own choices, habits, and behavior. The good news is — we can always choose to change! (And if it’s something you can’t change, you can still take action — accept it and focus on what you can change!)
Take action. Better days ahead await! (And now I am going to take action to water, pull weeds, and tend to my veggie garden, spending 15-20 minutes a day doing so, so I can later enjoy my goal to have an abundance of fresh grown flowers and produce this fall instead of it just turning into a weedy tangled mess!)
What do you think? Please share in the comments.
No joke…I was talking to a lady in the gym about something along the lines of this subject. She was airing a particular grievence about guys in the gym and eventually her husband. All I said was ‘change is from within’.
She responded…’yeah everyone else needs to change and I don’t’. I said ‘good luck’. The odd reaction part was she laughed after I said that…I think she knows.
“there is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists.”
Miyamoto Musashi
It’s difficult to do. Cognitive dissonance is hard to overcome but it can be. From many their own solipsism makes it difficult to impossible to see things past their own feelings. After all what they are feeling is real.
“Oh. If only others could accept that. Then they would understand”
“I just need time. I’m so busy”
The excuses go on. What it comes down to is selfishness. A desire to have life as you want it and not as it is.
I no longer accept “I’m busy”. True it is a red pill principle but it’s more for the beta who has always bowed down and has no ability to separate his time. Once alpha you realize how easy it is to make time for things you want to do. Yet it’s also easy to replace activities that are not enjoyable nor meaningful.
The key for women is to not be easily replaced and showing up doesn’t count.
It’s meaningful action. Neglect your LTR or SO for too long and be prepared for the consequences. Better still don’t think a small action will change things. There is direct correlation between the length of neglect and the meaning of your actions.
Why do you think red pill men are told to treat women like the oldest teen in the house? It’s due to actions being half hearted or opportunistic instead of meaningfully planned out.
Why else does the Skittles Man exist?
There is a new post at Spawny’s
https://spawnyspace.wordpress.com/2018/07/04/kneel/
Who are WE to tell anyone what they can or can’t do?
See there is your problem, we don’t want to be found.
Because you’re in the wheelchair and I’m Not.
DON’T TELL ME WHAT I CAN’T DO!
I.
AM.
I.
DO.
It has NEVER been easy.
Get over it.
Contrast Horseman to this
https://spawnyspace.wordpress.com/2017/08/10/my-butt-hurts-therefore-i-am/
@justaguy; skittles man was outdone by Trump when he threw some starbursts at her, “Don’t say I never gave you anything.” 🙂
*her (Angel Merkel)
** Angel of Death Merkel
A central theme of Toaism is “reduce causality”
Meaning only do that which will be of benefit going forward.
A rock falling in a stream causes the water to find a new path.
Some rocks create a boiling rapids, others a useful ford.
But the water always flows on to where it would not be without the rocks.
If I keep to my own, I am not a thief
If I speak seldom, I am not uncouth.
If I am humble, I am not brought low.
A future thing cannot exist without its beginning being created.
This is what tnhe often misunderstood “journey of a thousand steps” truly means.
Not as a call to action as many think.
It is a reminder that little daily acts, choices begin chains of events far into the future.
Tao Te Ching – Lao Tzu – chapter 64
Peace is easily maintained;
Trouble is easily overcome before it starts.
The brittle is easily shattered;
The small is easily scattered.
Deal with it before it happens.
Set things in order before there is confusion.
A tree as great as a man’s embrace springs from a small shoot;
A terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth;
A journey of a thousand miles starts under one’s feet.
He who acts defeats his own purpose;
He who grasps loses.
The sage does no act, and so is not defeated.
He does not grasp and therefore does not lose.
People usually fail when they are on the verge of success.
So give as much care to the end as to the beginning;
Then there will be no failure.
Therefore the sage seeks freedom from desire.
He does not collect precious things.
He learns not to hold on to ideas.
He brings men back to what they have lost.
He helps the ten thousand things find their own nature,
But refrains from action.
Horseman has caused me to learn something.
The last line above But refrains from action brought forth in me the response He too serves a purpose who only stands and cheers. That is a line from a list of lines from a high-school English class. We were given the list and told to pick one and write an essay about it of a certain length. That quote has always stuck with me.
I just googled that line to see who said it, and discovered it is an alteration of this line from a poem by John Milton: They also serve who only stand and wait.
Milton wrote Paradise Lost and the lesser-known Paradise Found. This I knew. What I did not know until now, thanks to the stimulus from Horseman, is that Milton was completely blind when he wrote that prose, and when he wrote the poem below about that blindness, from which comes the line discussed above. In this poem, Milton is musing about the warning inherent in the Parable of the Talents re. the third servant who hid his talent (engaged in no actions) and was punished – Milton wondering whether his enforced idleness due to blindness would be viewed in a similar fashion by God.
The title of this post is Actions Create Outcomes. But so too does refraining from action create outcomes – per the Tao quoted above and Milton quoted below:
When I Consider How My Light is Spent (On His Blindness)
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
Very true Horseman and RichardP. Sometimes inaction is the best path. Other times inaction can perpetuate what is unwanted. I suppose knowing when to act and when to not is in itself another layer…
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless …
One could think Milton was displaying a false modesty in refering to himself as only having one Talent, which is death to hide. But this poem was written before Milton became established as a major writer and became known world-wide. It was written before he wrote Paradise Lost. Would we have Paradise Lost if Milton had not gone blind? This situation demonstrates that great misfortune, which we would justifiably lament, can sometimes lead to greater outcomes for us than would have occured without the misfortune. So, in Milton’s case, the lines from above seem to be true: Milton was forced to refrain from action, forced to stand and wait, because of his blindness. But this resulted in the greater action later that appeared in his well-received writings while blind.
Waylon Jennings stood and waited, gave up his seat on that airplane that crashed and killed everybody (Buddy Holly, Big Bopper, etc.) We can find examples most everywhere – if we look for them.
Bloom – not arguing against the point you made in the OP. Just riffing on what Horseman posted because of the memory it triggered. In the process, expanding on the point you made.
Goals?
Very true Richard
Also “action” as in verse 64 is not action as english defineds it.
It is difficult to translate from the original chinese. More subtle.
It means roughly “unconsidered action” or a forced choice or impulsiveness.
Toa very much is subtly bending to guide one.
The verse is about how a simple considered act can change much later.
It can be stillness as Richard says.
But it is not avoidance or not doing.
It is taking the time to think, then choose, then do.
Unintended consequences cannot happen without their causality happening.
P.s. Toa literally means path. As things should be.
But it is not a rigid. The traveller can leave the lighted path into the woods as they wish. To find new horizons, or adventure, or danger.
Richard gets what is meant
“Milton was forced to refrain from action, forced to stand and wait, because of his blindness. But this resulted in the greater action later that appeared in his well-received writings while blind.”
How many times do you wish you could go back and make a small change, one thought, one decision that would have avoided the path you are on?
Instead by being aware of causality we are aware that we are making our future always.
@horseman so true, all those decisions big and small are what make the future for better or worse. Many people seem to think it’s luck or chance, and sometimes it is, but I’d say far more often “lucky” or “blessed” (or the opposite) is the result of small daily decisions adding up.
I often see people (myself included) wanting something yet not taking the actual steps to get there. The wanting is part of the process, but it’s the steps taken that will determine the outcome (or not.)
I think also people often think some outside force will make things happen. But really it’s a gift only we can give to ourselves. Interestingly people often see the process in a negative light (say losing weight or tackling clutter) when really it’s an act of self love to take the steps to give that to oneself.
Not sure I am explaining this well…but I think what you and Richard have said helps tease this idea out! 🙂
And of course many times the “can’t” is not can’t physically but can’t mentally. Take weight loss. I have a gal friend who says she “can’t lose weight.” But guaranteed if she increased her activity level and reduced junk food and such while eating high nutrition/low calorie foods so intake is less than output on a daily basis, the weight would come off. It would have to. She could easily reach her goal in six months or less, actually. And she’ll take steps for a few days but then give up and go back to old ways. So it’s not can’t so much as won’t. We all probably do this on some level. The solution is simply to realize, she can lose weight rather easily by taking the steps needed, but it will never happen wo taking those steps. Starting and then taking the steps until and after she gets there.
On her current path she’s about 10 years away from starting to see health repercussions from not taking the steps. Diabetes, heart disease, limited mobility, joint problems, poor quality of life, etc. The damage is already happening now, once the damage gets to the point of diabetes or what not, reversing that may not be possible. So taking action now will benefit far more than waiting until then to act.
Path A or B? And maybe that’s what people often don’t see, not taking the steps also has an outcome. We’re always on a path…
Can’t = don’t truly want
In most cases.
Few things are physically impossible.
Don’t truly want — or at least don’t want bad enough to take action, very true! And maybe they are the same thing.
Sorry to thread jack. Just ran across the following link. Pop stars … years ago .. and now today. Sexy superstar ? Now lets age you 20+ years and see how that turned out. And notice the men versus the women. Men for the most part look decent … women ???
The wall hits hard.
Funny thing was … about 3/4 of the way thru was Rick Astley. We mocked and laughed at that dude. “Rick rolled”, we called it. He was singing and the chicks in the vids were way out of his league, he’s decent looking at best. Chicks around him … hot as fuck.
25 years later. Astely looks great. The chicks who used to be around him look like shit. The girls on stage with him now … are 25 years younger than him. And they’d take his dick any way they could get it.
The wall is harsh !!!
@ Mega, I think a lot of the female singers in those videos were also hardcore drug users for years, which I am sure did not contribute to aging well. Like Debbie Harry, in the young video, I saw an interview w her later that said she was so coked out she could hardly make the video at the time! Not that I am saying age isn’t kinder to the men folk (mostly, not always) but again actions lead to outcomes — heavy partying and a rock and roll lifestyle does not HELP a woman age well, for sure.
I wrote a post on the wall that explores that idea… https://notesfromaredpillgirl.com/2015/09/08/the-wall-gets-us-all/
So speaking of aging. Here’s one that might get your interest. 2007-1971 is 36 effing years. And they still rocking it.
And here is one even better. Jimmy Page schooling some youngsters on how its done. He’s gotta be well into his 60s. Edge in his 40s. Jack in his 20s.
Men teaching men, how to be men.
WHERE, OH WHERE, HAS THIS LOST ART GONE.
Pretty cool to watch though.
Watch Jack White and his eyes … like a cat memorizing a smell. Don’t think he’s ever going to forget the lesson he got. That’s how it works. For men anyway. Older generation teaching the younger ones how it works. How reality works. How life works.
Not sure how that works for women. Or if it does. Pretty much think that these days … for women … it doesn’t work. Older women are not giving younger women good advice. Or any advice at all. Too afraid to tell the younger set the truth.
Always loved me some Jimmy Page. Kinda reminded me of Richard Feyman … the mad scientist type who doesn’t give a fuck. He’s gonna do what he wants and doesn’t care what you think. Kinda cool. Hope I live my life 1/2 as good as those dudes did.
Mega said The wall is harsh !!!
On purpose.
My wife is an OB/Gyn nurse. She’s seen most everything. Including bleeding almost to death after giving birth. There is a reason that women die in childbirth – even still. Childbirth is major trauma on the mother’s body. Something that an aged body would not recover from very well, if at all. Women are designed to attract sperm while their bodies can handle the outcome of impregnation – and repel sperm when their bodies age and cannot handle the outcome of impregnation. That design works pretty well. Pity the ladies that do not understand that design.
Switching gears. Walked past the television last night, nobody in the room, but PBS was on. Sting was singing. Canadian tribute to the death of Leonard Cohen – filmed in 2017, different artists singing his songs. I’ve always thought Sting was excellent at his craft, but I’ve never cared for most of what he’s done. This I really liked. He normally sings high, with a consticted throat that I don’t care for. This is open throat, more like a crooner. A little romance for the ladies, to counteract all of the theory being thrown around.
Video begins with the end of one song and then goes into Sting at about the 2:30 mark.
Dance Me to the End of Love
Well – that video played just before I posted it, but now says it’s been deleted. Try this one – which is just Sting’s song. Audio is a bit muddier than the other one, but still good.
OK – I just played this one also. They must have something embedded in the link that makes it impossible to re-post the video.
Bloom – I don’t know if you can delete these two posts, or at least the dead video links. Delete them if you can since they are non-functional.
If you have the time and inclination, search YouTube on Tower of Song Memorial Tribute – don’t put it in quotes. Sting is good. Lana del Rey and Adam Cohen are good together. And k.d. lang just crawls inside the song and emotes the daylights out of it.
Ever notice how men write a ton of articles on either salvaging a marriage\ltr they are already in or how to sexy up a sexless ltr because they are in them, stuck\committed?
And lots of how to get laid from the youngins under 30.
But virtually no oh my life would be great with a partner or hereis how I learned not to have one?
Men just adapt to singleness and many learn to like it.
Unlike the crap from post wall women like this drivel.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/single-at-42_us_5b369431e4b0f3c221a0d5eb
Horseman, I loved this part of that 42 yo idiot female on Huff..
“My self-care path eventually included a conscious choice to not have children, but I rejoice in knowing that I can be a sort-of mother to my patients.’
Yeah!!!! No mini-mes from this one, the genetic dysfunction ends with her. Just wish there was some way to get all the western femtards not to procreate
Haha, read the post at Huffpo just for giggles. Really wanted to see the comment section and whether people spoke the truth to her. AND NO COMMENT SECTION. Is that normal for Huffpo … I don’t go there … not sure anyone with 1/2 a brain would. But no comments ??? What’s up with that ? Scared of their own readers blasting the screwed up crap they produce ???
Lol Mega yeah they probably disabled comments once the red pillers started pointing out the BS…in EVERY article! 😛
Speaking of the wall and such, while age is going to happen, how a gal reacts can help. Action creates outcome! Take a look at these examples of women who totally turned things around after 40, in some cases dramatically so and after YEARS of being dumpy and overweight. In many cases in less than a year! I am sure it wasn’t easy but wow — outcome was worth the action. And not just looks, I am sure their health and risk reduction of major illness are greatly improved. Now granted they are not in their 20s, likely don’t look as good now as they did then, but if it were me, I’d still take the “after” than the “before” any day! Worth the effort.
Whoops forgot the link! https://www.muscleandstrength.com/transformations/female-40