The ripples we make are all that count | INFJ Forum

The ripples we make are all that count

TinyBubbles

anarchist
Oct 27, 2009
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You can be dreaming of the most amazing things, you can have thoughts that would revolutionize the world, but if you don't take a single step to realize them they will live and die with you, and unless in the future we come up with some way to extend your potential beyond your life, they might as well have not been. You as a person are not necessarily important - it's what you DO that counts.

But then I think - since your thoughts directly influence your actions (whether you're aware of it or not), and your actions influence others' actions, and likewise others' thoughts, then there is a real impact your dreams have on the world, even if they are not directly expressed. So maybe things like how you see yourself really DO matter, because they would limit & extend the range of actions you're willing to take, and therefore what kind of ripples you make. What do you think?
 
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This is a subject very close to my heart, May. Here's a quotation from my favourite self-help author, James Allen:

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.
The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg; and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.

I deeply believe this.
 
Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.
The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg; and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.

Great quote, I love the last line. I think it's true, our dreams can give birth to amazing realities. But you know, you can also do things without having a vision in mind, and that will have impacts too. So maybe we overemphasize the abstract (well maybe I do), and underestimate how much taking one step -regardless of the intentions behind it- can really do. At just the right angle, at precisely the right moment, saying a single word or making a single move can pretty much change your whole life. It probably won't, but it could.
 
indeed, I think there is a lot of truth to this statement. This idea is why the romantic poet John Keats's epitaph reads:
Here lies one whose name is writ in water

This also gives credence and power to the quote by William James:
The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.
 
I agree a lot. I believe that while the world has so much darkness in it that it is all our duty to at least try to shine some light into it. It does not necessarily need to be on a large scale,even the smallest action or word- saying thank you,hugging those you love,perhaps volunteering an hour a week-can make a difference; even the seemingly dimmest light can shine bright in deep darkness. As Mother Teresa once said " We cannot all do great things but we can do small things with great love"- please forgive me if I made a mistake there. To shine a light of love, wisdom and kindness is perhaps one of the best ways to live a fulfilling life; well at least my take on it.
 
I believe that while the world has so much darkness in it that it is all our duty to at least try to shine some light into it. It does not necessarily need to be on a large scale,even the smallest action or word- saying thank you,hugging those you love,perhaps volunteering an hour a week-can make a difference.

This is so true. The smallest thing you do can impact more people than you can imagine-- and the impact can be good or bad. Of course we're all going to make bad ripples sometimes, but I feel it is our civic responsibility to try and outweigh them with good ripples.
 
The principle I live by:

"Be The Change you want to see in The World." --Gandhi
 
You can be dreaming of the most amazing things, you can have thoughts that would revolutionize the world, but if you don't take a single step to realize them they will live and die with you, and unless in the future we come up with some way to extend your potential beyond your life, they might as well have not been. You as a person are not necessarily important - it's what you DO that counts.

First, the person is important, whatever we do. Second, I think recognition of ideas is often the problem, not that we have them and don't attempt to realize them. Sometimes, ideas, good, brilliant, thought provoking ideas, are discounted because of lack of understanding, vision, prejudice, stubborness, unwillingness to change, etc. We can speak, but there must be someone who is wise enough to pay attention and listen, even if it is unpopular or dismissed.
 
First, the person is important, whatever we do.
Why?


Second, I think recognition of ideas is often the problem, not that we have them and don't attempt to realize them. Sometimes, ideas, good, brilliant, thought provoking ideas, are discounted because of lack of understanding, vision, prejudice, stubborness, unwillingness to change, etc. We can speak, but there must be someone who is wise enough to pay attention and listen, even if it is unpopular or dismissed.
I agree, although I don't think it's because of a lack of wisdom moreso than timing. I think you have to be in the right mindframe and in conducive circumstances to be able to recognize the potential of an idea.
 
Ripples, ah......you've hit on another of my favorite subjects May. I've mused on this several times in this forum, both on my blog and in poems. I echo what has already been said here. I don't think you can really conceptualize the way our actions spread and amplify over time--even small ones. The larger things we do, such as raising children, have a huge affect I think. Thanks why things like kindness and caring really do matter. The whole "pay it forward" concept. Here are the words from my blog concerning ripples:

My mom on the other hand, had a huge role shaping and molding me and we are very close. She is an amazing woman and the kindest, wises person I know. All my best traits I got from her.

She had both her parents dead by age 9, and was raised by her older sister. It's funny but I see nothing of my Aunt Peachie in my mother. But my mom's mother, well from everything I've heard, this is where my mom's voice and wisdom come from. So I feel the hand of my dead grandmother on my shoulder, though she died 12 yrs before I was born. And my children will feel her hand too, though they will not even remember her name.

To those who think kindness, and caring, and the little things don't matter--read carefully. Your echoes spread out in an ever widening circle, and no one knows just how much influence they will have in the ages to come.


I think it covers the concept of ripples (or echoes as I called them), my opinion anyhow, nicely.