The answer to this question is found in the metaphor of the brook. Just as the brook is the flow of water, so too life is the flow of action. Without the flow of water, there is no brook; without the flow of actions there is no life.
Since flow creates the flow of what is to follow, our actions set the stage for future actions. So, considering the question in the title of the post, if you consider actions as continuing through life – and we mean purposeful action here – then these continue. You might argue or ask, what happens when we die? The answer depends on the nature of the action. For example, Mohandas Gandhi’s action to free a nation from foreign occupation peacefully continues through others, as do Mother Teresa’s acts of service to humanity.
This concept of continuing action works lock-step with the concept of continuous improvement, or Kaizen. How can there be Kaizen if the action ends?
Another aspect of this post relates to the extent or breadth of the action being considered. For example, if we consider the action to be simply walking a mile on a certain day at a certain place, the action in and of itself ends. However, if one considers the walk as part of a healthy living regimen, it continues – through its ups and downs as the case might be …
Now, what do you think… and why?