Introduction: Thoughts, Choices and Actions
Our daily thoughts, choices and actions affect our lives cumulatively. In the long run, they have an effect on our lives, whether positively or negatively. We should therefore be mindful of our thoughts, choices and actions.
In the book of Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23 of the Bible, we are admonished to be careful of how we think. It states: “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.”
In a similar vein, Lao Tzu, the Chinese Taoist philosopher, expresses the correlation between thoughts, words, actions, habits, character and destiny. He states: “Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”
Given the cumulative effect of our thoughts, choices and actions on our lives whether positively or negatively, we should make a conscious effort to consistently make beneficial choices and not detrimental ones. We should not think that the choice or action is small and therefore inconsequential. This is because as the proverb goes, “Little drops of water make a mighty ocean.” As such, small things are significant and small actions can result in great consequences.
Negative Effects of Thoughts, Choices and Actions
Poor Dietary Choices
With reference to making detrimental choices, an example is making poor dietary choices. Whenever we choose to eat junk food, we are setting up a domino effect of weight gain, obesity and its resultant diseases.
We may think that just one doughnut today won’t make a difference. However, when we consistently choose doughnuts, pizzas and beefburgers over fruits, nuts and vegetables, we are asking for trouble. The pounds sneakily pile up, our weight gradually increases and eventually our clothes don’t fit. We suddenly realise that we are obese and we forget that it did not happen overnight.
The effects of obesity, such as high blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol levels and diabetes then become a way of life. As they say, “You are what you eat”. In other words, it is important to eat good food in order to be healthy and fit.
Telling Lies, Cheating and Stealing
Telling lies, cheating and stealing are also an example of detrimental choices. We may think that “Oh, this is just a white lie.” However, when we consistently tell seemingly white lies over a period of time, this dulls our conscience. Lying thus becomes second nature to us.
Similarly, we may find nothing wrong with cheating in an exam as we will convince ourselves that the end justifies the means. Likewise, we may not find stealing repulsive as we will tell ourselves that we need and deserve whatever it is that we are taking, even though it does not belong to us.
In compromising our values through our consistent detrimental choices, we gradually become caught up in a vicious cycle of destructive behaviour. Very few armed robbers were created overnight. It inevitably started with a minor bending of the rules here and there.
Positive Effects of Thoughts, Choices and Actions
An Active Lifestyle
On the other hand, deliberately making beneficial choices has a positive effect on our lives. For instance, when we opt for an active lifestyle and therefore exercise consistently, we end up being very healthy. We may achieve this through making healthy choices such as engaging in some housework instead of being couch potatoes.
We can also choose to take the stairs instead of the elevator as much as possible. We can also make it a point to do some aerobics every day or to go for a walk daily. A few minutes of exercise per day may not seem like much. However, cumulatively, it results in a healthy lifestyle with fewer diseases.
Dedication to Lifelong Learning
Also, when we dedicate ourselves to lifelong learning, we live more fulfilled and productive lives. This could be with respect to academia, learning a new art or craft, learning a new language, engaging in a new hobby or even travelling to different places. Forming a habit of continuous learning makes us young at heart and ready to take on new adventures. These beneficial consistent choices, in turn, keep our brains fresh and ward off senility. These choices, cumulatively, have a positive effect on our lives.
Conclusion
Bearing in mind the cumulative effect of our thoughts, choices and actions on our lives, we should strive to develop good habits. As such, next time you think of choosing to have that mouth-watering cheeseburger, why don’t you consider its effect on your waistline and its cumulative effect on your health? Similarly, when you toy with the idea of cheating in an exam, why don’t you consider the cumulative effect of such a detrimental choice on your values and how it compromises yor character?
Conversely, how about focusing on an active rather than a sedentary lifestyle? Also, how about making it a point to learn something new every day?
We should note that whereas the choice is ours, we have no control over the consequences of our choice. As stated by Ezra Taft Benson, a former United States Secretary of Agriculture, “You are free to choose, but you are not free to alter the consequences of your decisions.”
May we endeavour to choose well!