The Road to Hell Isn’t Paved With Good Intentions

Today I want to discuss the old proverb, still heard around the traps, which states:

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Has anyone ever said this to you while you stand back to observe an unexpected, perhaps even disastrous outcome, for which you are responsible?

Linking the words hell and good in a phrase is disconcerting. It can make you fear to do something in the future which you think should have good results, just in case it doesn’t.

Recalling this phrase can cause you to choose to omit to do or say something, rather than commit to it, because you don’t want a possibly negative outcome to blow up in your face, so to speak.

This proverb fills your life with hesitation, second thoughts and indecision. You find yourself unwilling to throw out the soapy bath water on the aphid-infested roses in case you inadvertently throw out the baby as well.

If this is how you feel, there is help at hand!

I have created a new proverb, which I’d like to hear around the traps, which states:

Here is an example of what this means.

I once had the good intention of growing three types of mint in my garden: English mint, chocolate mint, and spearmint. The friend who gave me these treasures suggested I plant them in a pot, not directly in the ground.

‘If you don’t contain them in a pot,’ this wise gardening friend said, ‘they will take over your garden.’

It wasn’t my good intention of planting mint that caused the ensuing problem. It was my inattention to the warning from my friend which caused the hell of an ongoing battle with three types of vigorous, aggressive mint rhizomes silently sneaking underground wherever their fancy took them. Several months later Rob had to spend many hours tracking down and digging out their wily roots, which had spread many metres from their source.

Although I quickly corrected my mistake and confined all three in a large black plastic rubbish bin with no holes in the bottom, I still occasionally see cheeky mint leaves popping up in unexpected places, reminding me once again of the importance of paying attention.

Good intentions and paying attention are inextricably bound up in one another. You can’t have one without the other. An intention can’t be good unless it involves attention.

Good intentions involve paying attention.

Paying attention results in good intentions – and good outcomes.

And hell is nowhere to be seen.