Everything we do in life has an effect (to a greater or more subtle extent). All our actions, what we do and how we relate to people, have an effect on ourselves and also an effect which spreads out into the world like ripples through a pond. Even our thoughts over time effect our character, and it is our character which effects our future actions.
So this section is just an attempt to try and make us more aware of the effects of our actions (and thoughts) in the hope that we might be a bit more thoughtful about what we do!
Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny.
Ancient Chinese Proverb
No thought or action is without results.
The Law of Karma
Actions are like invisible seeds planted in the unborn. If the seed is good the fruit will be good, if the seed is bad the fruit will be bad. Every action of body speech and mind is subject to this natural law.
The Buddha
Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Jesus Christ
The quality of your life will be determined by the quality of your behaviour.
Tycho
Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
Lao-Tze
Our inner thoughts, beliefs and attitudes are causes, our external circumstances are effects
Tycho
A man becomes what he thinks about all day long
Ralph Waldo Emerson
What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.
buddha
The Golden Rule...
Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you' is the single greatest, simplest, and most important moral axiom humanity has ever invented, one which reappears in the writings of almost every culture and religion throughout history, the one we know as the Golden Rule.
Do unto others as you would have them do to you.' ... is a concept that essentially no religion misses entirely. But not a single one of these versions of the golden rule requires a God
Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.
Matthew 7:12
Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.
Confucious
That which you hate to be done to you, do not do to another
Ancient Egyptian proverb
In a simplistic sense - all wrongdoing in the world is the result of a lack of respect for another. If we all respected others and treated others how we wish to treated ourselves - wouldn't the world be a much better place?
Stuart Hodgson
and what following the Golden Rule means for us...
When an individual practices the golden rule, it encourages others to do the same. When they ignore the golden rule, it encourages others to ignore it as well.
Unknown
As the effects of our actions spread into the world like ripples through a pond - it's entirely up to us what kind of ripples we want to spread out into the world and what world we want to create through our actions. Do we want the world to become more selfish/self-centred or more altruistc?
Stuart Hodgson
The world is a great mirror. It reflects back to you what you are. If you are loving, if you are friendly, if you are helpful, the world will prove loving and friendly and helpful to you. The world is what you are.
Thomas Dreier
A loving peron lives in a loving world, a hostile person in a hostile world. You attract people like your self and everyone you meet is your mirror.
Ken Keyes Jr
Don't expect to receive friendship, love and joy, if your giving out hostility, anger and misery.
Tycho
A selfish person seldom has good relationships with others. And good relationships are what make us happiest.
Stuart Hodgson
Be generous and you will be prosperous. Help others and you will be helped.
Proverbs 11, 25
If you think only of yourself, if you forget the rights and well-being of others, or, worse still, if you exploit others, ultimately you will lose. You will have no friends who will show concern for your well-being. Moreover, if a tragedy befalls you, instead of feeling concerned, others might even secretly rejoice. By contrast, if an individual is compassionate and altruistic, and has the interests of others in mind, then irrespective of whether that person knows a lot of people, wherever that person moves, he or she will immediately make friends. And when that person faces a tragedy, there will be plenty of people who will come to help.
Tenzin Gyatso, The Dalai Lama
Treat people well, and people are likely to treat you well in return. Live out your life with good, positive intentions, and people & life are likely to come back at you in a positive manner. Treat people badly, and well, sooner or later the quality of your life will pay the price.
Stuart Hodgson
And in the end the love you take, is equal to the love you make.
Lennon/McCartney
I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou
Treat people as you would like to be treated. Karma is only a bitch if you are.
Anonymous
Compassion is the basis of all morality
Schopenhauer
You reap what you sow.
Proverb
You make a living by what you earn; you make a life by what you give.
Winston Churchill
You get what you give
Unknown
Your beliefs don't make you a better person, your behaviour does
Anoymous
Actions speak louder than words
Proverb
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Just Do as you would be Done By. That is all.
Anoymous
However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?