My dear friend Mary just introduced me to Jane Grey’s page and I fell in love with this and just had to share!! This is print out worthy! Please enjoy!
Do the thing and you will have the power.
I love this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson because I find it so motivating.
DO the thing — do the thing — do the thing — DO! It means action, and action counts. Ever hear the old adage that says talk is cheap? Well, talk IS cheap because it’s easy. Ideas are even cheaper — they’re free. But it’s action that brings about results. It’s action that makes things happen, and which changes the world.
Action takes effort, it can take daring and courage. It can mean sacrifice and risk. Action is the price we pay for what we want.
Now I believe profoundly in the power of thought and the importance of words. But I love this quote because it gets to the point: beyond thought, and after the word, there is deed. Deed — or doing — is a critical component of all acts of creation.
DO the thing. What thing?
The thing that you have been dreaming of doing.
The thing you secretly wish you were doing.
The thing you’ve been waiting until someday to do.
The thing is the very thing that you think you can not do.
Like what?
Like change your career
or buy an apartment
or have a romance
or learn to play the piano
or write a book
or get into shape
or go back to school
or help the world in some big or modest way.
Note the quote does not say, wait until the economy gets perfectly stable to start your new business.
It does not say, wait until you stop wanting food to start a diet.
It does not say, wait until you get smarter, thinner, richer or younger to look for a new friend or romance.
It does not say, wait until the grip of death is staring you in the face to make the jump into a new life that you have been thinking about for twenty years.
It does not say, “TRY to do the thing, and you will have the power.” There is no try. As Yoda, the Jedi Master from Star Wars, said “Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.” In other words, you can make excuses or you can succeed. You can’t have both.
Why do we not do? Why do we wait?
For lots of reasons and I’ll cite just a few:
If we wait, we can stay in our safe fantasies where we don’t have to face failure and we don’t have to face ourselves.
We wait because we think we have plenty of time. In fact, no one knows how much time they have. Many of us don’t accept the fact that our days on earth are numbered. Limited. Finite. We don’t like to think about death, we avoid death and as a result we avoid the doing that would mean living our potential.
We wait because we fear we can’t have what we want, what we REALLY want. We wait because we don’t KNOW we have the power to create what we want. We haven’t been taught that we HAVE the power. We haven’t been taught how to use our power. In fact, most of us have been taught directly or indirectly that power is dangerous and therefore bad. We’ve been taught to deny our power. We’ve been told that it doesn’t matter what we do, one person can’t make a difference anyway. Where does that leave us? Feeling powerless.
Uncertain times provoke sadness, anger and fear in many of us partly because we cannot control the world. Feelings of powerlessness run through many of us like a low-grade fever, eroding our energy and spirits.
And so in these uncertain times, dreams get put on hold. The irony is that life has always been uncertain. Don’t let this week’s world crisis be an excuse not to be who and what you want to be.
DO the thing and you will HAVE the power. Does that mean that you GET the power when you finally do the thing? No. It means the power was always there. By power I don’t mean the power over other people to use and abuse them. By power I mean your inherent capacity, your inner strength, your innate potential, your natural ability to create what you want. This is the true, essential power that resides within you already. You are born with the power to make your dreams come true or you would not have the dream to begin with.
So when Emerson said do the thing and you will have the power, he meant that in the doing you will turn your potential into your reality. You will move from concept to fact. Do the thing and you will stop wondering or dreaming or hoping you can do the thing, you will stop fearing that you can’t do the thing. Do the thing and you will know — you will know — you will KNOW that you CAN do the thing. You will know that you DO have the power.
What do you want to experience? Is it love? Passion? Justice? A better world? The satisfaction of contributing to a greater level?
Don’t wait. Don’t wait for the wars to end. Don’t wait for terrorism to go away. Don’t wait for the economic crisis to be over. Don’t wait for certainty and security because those are illusions.
Don’t wait until you are ready. Waiting until you’re ready only means waiting until you’re brave enough. Don’t wait until it gets easy. Don’t wait until someone gives you permission — not even me. Don’t wait until you’re not scared. Don’t wait until someday, because someday never comes. Someday is now.
DO the thing and you will have the power.
Do the thing and you will HAVE the power.
Do the thing and you WILL have the power.
Dare to DO.
Dare to begin.
Dare to do what you dream you can do, and you will KNOW what has always been true.
— Adapted from Jane’s speech
“Do the Thing and You Will Have the Power”
© 2003, 2008 by Jane Grey
Jane Grey, PhD — Conscious and Creative Living
Personal and Professional Holistic Development
Paris, France
