By Judy Young

My yard is very fertile. Things grow that I did NOT plant—all the time. But something or someone planted them! Whether it’s the squirrels moonlighting as backyard gardeners, seeds dropped by birds, the wind doing its thing, or maybe my sweet neighbors sneakily trying to beautify my yard—something caused these new plants to grow.

And that’s the perfect segue into one of the most straightforward natural laws: The Law of Cause and Effect.

This one’s easy to understand, because it’s like basic math. You do this, you get that. What goes up must come down. Simple, right? It reminds me of that old joke where a man goes to his doctor and says, “Doctor, it hurts when I do this.” And the doctor replies, “Then don’t do that!” Cause and effect in action!

The beauty of this law is in its predictability. Nature must respond to our actions. That means we’re never operating in a vacuum—there’s always a ripple, a response, a reaction.

For example: when I start feeling sick or run down, I can almost always trace it back to one thing—lack of sleep. The very first symptom? Cold-like sniffles or fatigue. But as soon as I catch up on rest (assuming I haven’t let things go too long), those symptoms disappear. Like clockwork. That’s the Law of Cause and Effect playing out in real time.

And here’s the good news: because the law is predictable, we can actually use it to our advantage.

Here’s the key: Take action. Any action.
It doesn’t matter if your first step is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’—just move. Movement creates feedback. That feedback will tell you whether to course correct, pivot, or keep going. But without movement, you get nothing. No clarity. No feedback. No momentum.

As a former flight attendant, I saw this principle in action all the time. Airplanes are constantly adjusting course. They’re nudged by winds, rerouted around storms, or shifted for altitude changes—but the goal stays the same. We don’t panic every time the plane veers slightly; we adjust and keep going.

If an airplane waited for perfect conditions before taking off, it would never leave the ground.

The same is true for us. Life isn’t about waiting for the perfect moment—it’s about starting, then adjusting as we go. And through the Law of Cause and Effect, those adjustments become guideposts that help propel us toward the future we want.

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