Here’s a Grasshopper reminder from Christmas past:

“Unintended Consequences Are Still Consequences.”

“I didn’t mean for that to happen” doesn’t remove the consequence. It may mitigate it in our mind but it won’t make it disappear.

Our actions don’t give us a free pass. We will have to pay the piper sooner or later; no one escapes. I’m reminded of the lyrics of an old Smokey Robinson song called “Everybody’s Got to Pay Some Dues.”

“I’ve got to pay, he’s got to pay, you’ve got to pay it, she’s got to pay. No matter what you do or say, there is gonna’ come a day when you’re gonna’ have to pay. Can’t nobody get away from dues . . .”

Have you ever offered someone an apology or asked for forgiveness? They may accept your apology or find their way to forgiveness but consequences will still be looking for a payment, kinda’ like a loan shark on steroids.

“I shouldn’t have to pay” is a fairy tale we have all bought into at some level, but this one doesn’t have a sugarplum ending.

What actions are you pretending you won’t have to pay for? It’s worth a moment of reflection.

Reminds me of a story . . .

Many years ago my mother was sharing a hospital room with a woman who was scheduled for surgery the next morning. This was a time when smoking was still permitted in hospitals. This woman was puffing away in the next bed and justifying it by saying things like, “We all gotta’ go sometime.” I was there the next morning as they came for her. She was crying and holding on to her rosary beads with a death grip. Her prayers may have calmed her mind but they didn’t save her lung.

It’s not like we haven’t been issued warnings for our actions. We just tend to ignore them when we’re under the delusion that we can get away without paying.

A focusing question like this often opens the door to taking new actions: If you continue on your current path, will things get better or worse?

The question calls for a reality based assessment. Common sense comes out from hiding when we consider the question. We literally put ourselves at a choice point.

You can then clearly see the accident everyone else knows will happen if you continue on your current path.

Taking action or not is greatly influenced by how strongly you have bought into the myth that you can skip out on the check.

Will things get better or worse? It depends on whether you choose to heed or ignore the age-old question: Truth or Consequences?

All the best,

John