Being Point

Tag: movement

  • “Trust Only Movement. Life Happens At The Level Of Events, Not Of Words. Trust Movement” ~ Alfred Adler

    A controversial contemporary of Freud, Alfred Adler, wrote:

    “Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.”

    When considering whom to trust, one compares words and deeds. When Adler speaks of “movement,” he is referencing action like the old saying, “Action speaks louder than words.” He goes beyond that comparison to say that “only” movement – action – can be trusted. He basically discounts words altogether.

    How much do you trust words in comparison to actions? Are you generally trusting of words, or do you need movement to back them up? What personal guidelines have you developed in deciding whom to trust relative to talking versus movement?

    Has there been a difference between your own words and your actions? If so, what accounts for that difference? How have you addressed it in your key relationships?

  • Attention Expands The Goals On Which It Is Focused

    An old saying goes: “That which we put our attention on, expands.” When we’ve put our attention on negatives like difficulty, unfairness, obstacles, limitations and reasons why we haven’t been able to do something, we’ve put our attention on matters that do not move us forward. We have then unwittingly formed a goal of not moving forward because our attention has been focused on negatives.

    There’s no way that a trained Olympic athlete would ever say just before a competition, “I can’t do it – it’s too hard – who do I think I am that I can medal in this event?” The reason is self-evident: to do so would be to put attention on some aspect of failure. At best, that unwisely-focused attention would dilute one’s power to hit one’s goals. At worst, that choice would impair one’s performance and even invite disaster.

    Can you think of examples in yourself or others where you have heard litanies of attention being put on negatives? Do you believe that that behavior can and should be changed if one wishes to reach your goals? How urgent is that change in behavior?