The thrall alone takes instant vengeance; the coward never.
Thursday's are Viking quote days and today marks a full year of my weekly Viking quote posts. I choose one, sometimes randomly and sometimes based upon relevance or meaning to my life, and share some thoughts on it. These thousand year old phrases still offer value in modern society. original im src
This week's Viking quote
The thrall alone takes instant vengeance; the coward never.
I'm the first to admit my actions have sometimes been dictated by emotion and I've acted hastily or rashly because of it, with mixed results. It doesn't happen much anymore but, as a younger man, teenager and child, it happened, as it did with all of us should we be honest enough to admit it.
There's also been times I've acted too slowly or reluctantly, for various reasons. Fear, uncertainty, selfishness...there's many reasons I suppose, but again, as I got older these occasions became less.
Both situations have outcomes, rarely desirable, but outcomes nonetheless.
As I grew older, experienced more of life and the happenings within it, I came to understand the benefits of handling things in a timely manner, not quickly, but timely. That means acting after gathering the right information, evaluation, thoughtfulness, perspective, planning and strategy, or whatever one chooses to label it; basically, I came to look more objectively at situations, weigh and measure them and plot a way forward confidently rather than fly into something quickly or with little thought.
I've been in situations where my decisions mattered greatly to myself and others and in which the luxury of time wasn't always present. That's why I learned to evaluate and understand a situation efficiently, determine a path forward and gained the skill of decisiveness and affirmative action; it's made a difference many times and I'm fortunate to have learned that process. With the benefit of hindsight I can see I could have done things differently in certain cases, but generally I'm content that the decisions and actions I took were sound.
Of course, one must also know when to apply restraint, to be cautious in respect of one's actions and even thoughts; I don't mean indecisive here, I simply mean that it can be prudent to sit back and consider just a little longer before taking action or taking a particular thought-path.
Thrall means, 'to be in someone else's power', and in the Viking days it meant, 'slave, captive or servant'. Coward...well, you know what that means.
I am neither fortunately, although have been a slave to my emotions at times which hasn't always ended well for me or others, usually when I've allowed those emotions to inspire rash, hasty or uninformed decisions and actions. I'm lucky that those occasions haven't cost me too dearly, but cost me they have. Fortunately I learned, as did the Vikings, and have achieved better results due to that understanding and more appropriate thought and action.
This quote means something to me today specifically, something personal that I cannot mention here, hence my decision to use it as this week's Viking quote. I don't know what it may mean to you, maybe nothing, however that's the nature of wisdom, we all receive it differently.
That's it for this week, a thousand year-old Viking quote that suggests one should think before he or she acts: Evaluate, contemplate and understand, then take action, but also know when to hold back, to be prudent and cautious.
Please feel free to disagree with my interpretation and add your own in the comments below or to simply add some thoughts of your own.
Skol.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
Taking any kind of action when pent up with emotion is never really a good path, I've done as we all have at least once. Sometimes though there are also situations where you NEED to act on those emotions or intuition immediately. Action is often better than the opposite in certain cases.
I'll be thinking on this one more deeply during my day. Thanks Galen. Have a wonderful Thursday. Skol.
There's a time and place for it, but generally acting rashly won't lead to anyplace good.
Have a good day.
So? Opening a big can of whoop ass on an opposing football player is considered? 😂
One of the biggest lessons of my life (and the one that probably kept me alive til now) was finding out that I could pause. I didn't have to just go ahead NOW and pay the consequences later, I could consider a bit.
Not to say that I always consider. I ride a motorcycle for God's sake. But those reactions are cultured and trained. The pause and reflection comes before I really need the right decision instantly. I know you know exactly what I mean.
Yep, I know what you mean.
Stopping, slowing down, and considering doesn't mean a lack of spontaneity, or that one is boring or too structured in every circumstance. There's a time for careful consideration and a time for rapid reaction. One must know when each is appropriate though, lest one use one at a time the other is most relevant. Sometimes we rush in and that's ok, we get away with it, other times doing so brings rise to potential risk.
You know that saying, right tool for the job? It applies in this case.
I used to be an outside linebacker and did this a lot. It was always considered. I'm was like, I wonder how much pain, suffering and humiliation I can inflict upon that dude over there.
Then they swapped me over to full back, carrying the ball and I was like, I wonder how much pain, suffering and humiliation I can inflict upon that dude over there. But I had to move the ball or provide a block for the half back, who was my brother, so...A little more consideration went into the job at hand. 🤪
Hello, Greetings Mr @galenkp, nice to meet you and I am a Viking admirer too
Wow, you really mean the Viking Spirit in your life. You are absolutely right, even though it is over a thousand years old, it is completely adaptive and factual throughout the ages.
Viking spirit is a universal value and it is actual to be interpreted in anyone's life, I think it will always apply.
Reading your review above, it is really relevant and full of learning value, especially for your own life.
Everyone, of course, has a different understanding and level of value. But the relevance of the values of the viking spirit really remains true today for those who want to reflect on it and take lessons from it.
Good luck for the future
Best Regards
There's a lot to be learned from looking into the past and finding wisdom there.
This is amazing.. the spirit of the Vikings is strong spirit which can't be defeated so easy..thanks for sharing
You're welcome, thanks for commenting.
🤗
As a biological process, our emotions kick in first and our slower logical mind can be over run before it has the chance to think things though. A biological process that would have saved us many times as a primitive human in the jungle.
It doesn't always work so well when in the office, on social media etc. I agree, we need to slow down and think a little first.
I had an incident once where my neighbour was racist towards my wife. My emotions took over and I did things and said things that I later reflected on - That wasn't me.
It takes a lot to train those biological emotional responses out of a person. Think martial arts training, military, first-responder and law enforcement, even in the office or workplace. We cant simply act as our instincts suggest in all cases. Sometimes those responses are just not relevant, productive or appropriate. And yes, we often feel ashamed, embarrassed or like we have let ourselves down when it happens.
I've been in situations where a combination of both logic and instinct has saved the day, or at least made it better than it could otherwise have been, and I'm thankful for the training I had ahead if time.
I wonder, how did you deal with your actions in the case you mention, both internally and with the other individual(s).
I have had to train myself in the way I deal with customers. I quite often get called in when problems with our client projects have been escalated. I am faceed with irate people but need to take the crap without allowing an emotional response. It has taken me years to finesse as a skill.
With regards to my incident, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I feel it wasn't aligned to the behaviours and values that I hold dear. I therefore feel I lost my integrity in that instance.
On the other hand, after a few previous occasions of racist comments and actions, they backed off. They kept out of my way and never said anything again to my wife.
That superficially feels like a result and I was happy with that outcome. However, I didn't actually help to change their underlying discriminative ethos. Behind closed doors, they were probably even more racist than before perhaps using my actions to justify their beliefs.
Wisdom indeed comes with age and experience.
I'm glad to hear that situation worked out as well as possible.
Just on the last comment you made about wisdom.
You're right although, wisdom doesn't always come with age and experience, there's plenty of people who have both and yet no wisdom. A person needs to want to bring it on board, it doesn't just happen.
Emotions are like wielding an axe. It takes many swings to learn to cut effectively, efficiently, with minimal effort, and maximum return.
Indeed, well said.