Short story: Delay sometimes hurts us more than we thought it would

I agree that guilt seldom serves any purpose, except for perhaps when it acts as a wake-up beacon for us in our lives. John was always doing this, putting his business, before his family, his wife, his mother. It always came first in his life, and it was really all he cared about, as he thought that it defined him, and painted the true picture of who he really was. Do we ever know what is right for us to do then? Do we really ever know who we really are? Can we ever know just from our surface being alone? Especially, if we remain one-pointed and overfocussed in only one area of our lives? We are many-sided beings. We are not just who we think that we are in our minds. Our true selves are made up of many parts, none of which should ever really be ignored totally. Sometimes, one part gives us a hint, out of the blue, and we should learn in our minds not to ignore these clues, and just go on regardless with our own work, and plans. Sometimes, a delay will change our very lives, as it did here. Sometimes, we should not allow a delay to happen. At sometime in our life, we need to step past thinking that we are just who we are as a thinking/planning person in our minds, and embrace the messages coming to us from our hearts too. These messages should not normally ever be delayed, but should be acted on right away, as they have come to us at that time, to be acted on right away, and the timing is always perfect for these messages to arrive, and so we ignore them usually at our own peril, as what happened here to John. We should take notice of our greater self sometimes, and not just remain in the outer shell of ourselves at all times. These messages come to us from our greater, deeper, inner self, and are always relevant in the time that they come, and not so relevant after their time has passed. God speaks, and if you listen, it is up to you. Listening always connects you to truth, whereas listening to yourself connects you to the so-called truth of yourself as most people see it to be, but this is never so, as your real self is always your greater God-self, not the self of your mind, that you think that you are. We should not delay becoming, or acting on our being, of our real self.

@innertalks you do have two different interesting arguments in this response. The last one I agree with, we must never delay the path to ourselves! While John may have done that, was there a benefit to his family from his working so much?

@DocAndersen Well, there was probably some type of a monetary benefit, (to the family) but as he was already a millionaire, many times over, from his business, this surely would have been minimal, at this stage of his career too. And his dog, Jack, never saw any benefit from such long working hours either. It would often bring its lead up to John, sitting heavily on his computer, unmovable, and persistently, incessantly, paw at his legs, wanting John to take him for a walk. John, would just say to his dog, without even looking down at it for one moment, "Later, boy" but he never would get around to doing it later either. And, it was the same with every other member of his family too.

Sad is not necessarily bad, though, is it?

@innertalks In life, we cannot retract our steps and that is tough for those with a conscience.

@innertalks yes, it is

Yes, a very hard lesson for John. I have been guilty of this myself, at times, but not with such dire consequences, fortunately, for me.

@innertalks Did you sleep and wake up..or you have not slept as yet?

@askme123 No, it's only 8.45 pm here, still a bit early to sleep, and it was a hot day, still hot now, so l might stay up longer.

Yes, sometimes outer circumstances can circumvent our best intentions, but usually, if that happens, we must trust that God's hand is still operating in there for us, and that the right outcome will still be obtained, despite all else. We have done all that we could do in those circumstances, and so we should not feel any guilt from our acting in that way. But, not doing all that we can, because of our following a pet project instead, might indeed be a reason for such guilt to be felt, and such one directed mind actions should be regretted too, by our hearts, as it is these very regrets, if strong enough, that might act in us to change us, into making a better decision, the next time in our lives, that we get such a chance again to do so. It was good that you could respond to that call of love, and be there for your mother at her final hour, and that circumstances never stopped you from being able to do that too.

@innertalks My decision was easy as I was retired but then I did rise to the occasion even when I was busy working. It helped that my wife was cooperative which is not common now in the modern world. She even left alone for India leaving behind me and our young son few times in Singapore for months. I avoided living in guilt or regret thankfully.

@Shiva49 If the timing had of been worse with this virus, and if there had been no travel to India allowed, even you might have had a regret that you were prevented from seeing your mother in her last hours too. The cards were laid down in your favour, that time around, but sometimes, they do not stack up like that, and so I think a few times when the cards crashed down on me, I still regret those times too. I could have been more careful in building my house of cards. I was a bit thoughtless, and driven by my own wants/needs, rather than caring enough for others sometimes too.

I think that most women would have done that. Women are more likely to put their hearts first, and listen to them first too, over their minds, and their so-called duties to their business, especially, if it was on a Saturday, their day off too. Us men, are usually more slow-witted, pig-headed, and so we ignore most of these incoming signals, until later, when we, at last, recognise them, but by then it is usually too late, as it was here, in my story too. I have done this often myself too. I will get a nudge to give my brother a call, or to go a different direction/route that morning in my car, but I rarely do these things, and so I get into trouble, like, for example, I drive into a traffic jam, that by heeding my inner voice I might have avoided. Regret is just as bad as guilt as a feeling, I think too.

@Shiva49 Hopefully a seed of it (conscience) is still left in their heart though, which enough traumatic life events, might eventually cause to seed, and so even a zilch conscience could start to sprout from such beginning roots then too.

@innertalks For those with zilch conscience, regret is not in their dictionary!

Yes, life is short, and if we put off seeing someone today, we can never be sure that we can even still see them tomorrow, as this story shows us too.

Yes, and that is a decision that he will rue for the rest of his life, I expect too.

Yes, it was a sad story, but sad stories can touch us with their truths sometimes too, in different more penetrating ways than which happy ones can do so.

Yes, it was rather sad. I like to write sad stories sometimes, as they can bring out a lot of meaning in them.

I do this in my own life sometimes. (not listen to, and follow my heart) And, I always feel sad and regretful whenever I do so too, and when I do not listen to, and then follow the promptings of my heart. Only a rare few times have I followed the message from my heart, and it has always changed my life in a big way, for the better, whenever I have done this. One time, it led to my getting married, another time, it led me to buying a new business for myself, which I loved, and run for a few years, and a third time, it saved my life. At least, I did listen at these three pivotal points in my life.

@innertalks Glad to know about it