March 17
Every deed carries its reward within itself. Whoever does good becomes good — the reward of the right deed is to have done it.
Compensation (freely rendered)
Listening mode
Every deed carries its reward within itself. Whoever does good becomes good — the reward of the right deed is to have done it.
A right decision isn't always followed by a good feeling. Sometimes afterwards you're just tired or irritable, because it cost you more than you expected and no one noticed. If the reward were a feeling, you'd have struck a bad bargain in cases like these.
And where the feeling does come, it isn't entirely harmless. Satisfaction with yourself can become a quiet payment that you pocket. Then, in the end, you've acted for something after all.
What remains perhaps lies elsewhere. An action changes what is open to you the next time. What you have done once, you no longer have to picture first as a possibility. That works in both directions, though: an excuse you've used once also lies closer to hand afterwards.
While this change is happening, you hardly notice it. More likely later, when you hesitate in a similar situation – for less time than you used to, or longer – and don't immediately know whom you have to thank for it.
