Attention & Destiny
Along the lines of paying attention…I saw this saying on a picture in a high school counselor’s office recently and it, well, just resonated with me:
Pay attention to your thoughts, because they become your words.
Pay attention to your words, because they become your actions.
Pay attention to your actions, because they become your habits.
Pay attention to your habits, because they become your character.
Pay attention to your character, because it becomes your destiny.
I’m not sure why I’m putting it in the “parenting” section. Maybe it’s just because I saw it in our son’s high school guidance counselor’s office while we were meeting about the college search (yikes!) process.
Or maybe it’s because I think it’s in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood that we develop so many of the habits that become our character and ultimately our destiny. And so I think a big part of parenting is trying to help you kids focus on this while there’s still time.
But, then again, maybe there’s always “still time.” Always time to pay attention to thoughts, words, actions, habits, and character. At least if we start now.
In any event, I thought it was a pretty cool – and very true – saying. ‘Hope you enjoy!
Post image: flower-petals-fragile-fall-surface on Free backgrounds.
In 1958, posted front and center in Sister Mary Turibius’s seventh grade classroom at IHM in Scarsdale, New York, was this poster.
Sow a thought, reap an action.
Sow an action, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow a character, reap a destiny.
It has guided me all my life.
To make a connection between postings: there is science that documents this pattern, it is behind Cognitive Behavior Therapy.