Goodness

[Ann]

Our deeds will travel with us from afar, and what we have been makes us what we are.
--George Eliot

We grow within, the way a tree does. We've all seen the rings representing the years of a tree's life. We carry our histories with us, too. Our actions, our attitudes, our goals, and our dreams all gather together inside us to make us what we are today. We're probably ashamed of some of our past, but our behavior each day adds to our history, and we control it.

We can't escape our mistakes, but we don't have to repeat them; and every day that is lived well gives us a history to be proud of.

How can I add goodness to my past--and my future--by my actions today?

[equus]

Long after we die I believe the effects of our lives and way of being continues. I have to believe in the future and in trying to understand better how to live well. Before I can achieve that I can't avoid needing to think carefully about how to do it.

How can I add goodness to my past--and my future--by my actions today?

I wondrer how many different answers there would be to that question?
For me it's to behave in a way that's honest, to try to harm no-one, to work hard to make what I say match my heart, to defend and act to prevent harm where I'm in a position to do so, to seek to be helpful and to never forget my own mistakes - that they don't define me, just as the mistakes of others don't define them.

Anyone else?