Touched by an Angel: The consequences of our actions

Nobody ever did, or ever will, escape the consequences of his choices.
— Alfred A Montapert

As I get older, I am aware of the consequences of my choices. I face the effects and results of things I did much earlier in life. As we age we find ourselves much less "bullet proof" than we thought we were.

It is even more frightening when the medical system is under the challenges of a year with a pandemic.

Have you been one of the people to get a letter suggesting a check up or medical procedure you might be expecting will now not go ahead and part of the reason given is you're over 75 years old? I haven't got that one yet, but I am aware of medical things being prioritised and needing to be justified at greater depth that before.

What does that mean for us as we get older? I know that I might have thought more of the consequences when I did some of the things I did, like drug use and facing guns and knives, driving a speedway car, training race horses, competitive diving, and lifting sick and hurt people from homes and accident sites as a St John driver and attendant. But they are the result of the choices I made.

I didn't think about a time when my body might fail. I remember people telling me to be careful, but careful was not a word I took seriously back then, did you?

Should I have done things differently? My Angels offer a light-hearted response, that maybe consequence is just fun that hasn't happened yet.

Seriously though, consequences are important. We need to learn to clean up our mess, fix what we broke, apologise to someone whose feelings we have hurt or whose lives we have harmed. Then there should be rewards for good behaviour, but not for unacceptable behaviour. A helpful question for each one of us and especially our parents of today - are the consequences relevant to the behaviour?

Sivananda Saraswati, a Hindu spiritual teacher and a proponent of Yoga and Vedanta said, "Life is but an endless series of little details, actions, speeches, and thoughts. And the consequences whether good or bad of even the least of them are far reaching."

I believe the secret of success is the consequences of our actions, so this week put our hearts, minds, and souls into even our smallest acts.

Arohanui. Shirley-Joy