Sunday, April 5, 2009

Intentions, Actions and Deeds












"Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds" ~ George Eliot

Is the road to hell paved with good intentions? I say no; that road is paved with 'bad' actions and deeds. Intentions are just thoughts, not actions. As children, we may believe that wishing 'makes it so'. As adults, we know, (wether they be 'good' or 'bad'), thoughts or intentions also require some form of action and deed, to actually 'make it so'.

There are those who believe we are judged solely by our intentions, others, solely by our actions. I believe we must judge ourselves by our intentions, (the thoughts), actions, (the doing part) and deeds, (the accomplishment of having made our intentions a reality). We must do all of these, as this is yet another path on our journey to becoming the best we can be.

Does it ever seem like you feel like one person on the inside but you find yourself acting like someone else on the outside? So then, who are we, really? The answer is we are both! The trick is finding a healthy balance for ourselves. We must determine what that balance is and actively seek it.

Positive Adaptation is about changing how we think, we feel and how we act. We need to practice making positive changes while keeping our balance in all areas.  This is simple in concept, but not always easy to accomplish. The good news is: once we make a change in one, simultaneously, we are usually helping to positively change ourselves in other areas.

I believe George Eliot is spot on; our deeds determine who we really are and we determine our deeds.  We are responsible for our thoughts, our feelings, and especially, how we transform these into our actions, resulting in the completion of deeds!

With the assistance of Positive Adaptation, we can turn our good intentions into reality, "the deeds that determine us".

Here is to the process and becoming our best selves, inside and out.
Victoria