Not long ago I was listening to a lecture on my laptop. The screen kept freezing and doing a spinney wheel and I’d hack away at emails in my Inbox on another screen….
…but I kept listening to the recording.
Then, I heard the voice of the speaker say something that made me pause a moment.
She said “don’t you just get sick of looking at your limiting beliefs all the time? Heck, just take action.”
(Scrape…….did you hear the rewind sound?)
I had to chuckle.
Because on first read-through…moving through and doing The Work is all about looking at limiting beliefs….
….uncomfortable, disappointing, frightening, aggravating beliefs.
We’re looking, investigating, exploring this (apparently) internal world.
It’s true that there appears to be no guidance about action. No rules or ideas about what to do or when to do it.
But here’s what I’ve noticed about action and believing: both of these experiences or “things” HAPPEN.
It’s not exactly natural to sit still and never take action. It’s not natural to constantly take action and never sit still.
If you just sat all the time writing out The Work, or getting facilitated, or concluding that since you are not feeling happy, you must question your thoughts 24/7 until this changes…
…none of us would last very long. And it would be virtually impossible.
Even when I’ve been looking at my beliefs about situations and people in my life, I’ve been going about my business…cleaning house, picking up kids, writing the book, sleeping, doing dishes, meeting with clients, teaching classes, working out at the gym, healing from my leg getting cut off, eating lunch.
(OK OK, the leg wasn’t cut off, I had surgery on a badly torn hamstring).
But I really love the idea that this dynamic speaker had about moving, acting, energy: sometimes, heck, just go for it!!
Sometimes, even if you are really nervous, feeling totally awkward, uncertain, uncomfortable, terrified, indecisive, do-it-anyway.
The thing is, the more I do The Work and get down into the gritty dark recesses of my greatest fears, the more actions and energy appear to be freed up.
I take about 1000% more efficient, fun action than I used to. Before, I’d spend so much time in my head analyzing, ruminating, perseverating…
…I hardly let anything sink below the neck.
And my actions, when I believed my fearful thoughts, were very defensive, protective….like when a little bunny rabbit is trying to run across the open highway with cars zooming both ways at 70 miles per hour.
Major random emergency chaos! And who the heck knows if the bunny ends up on the other side of the highway!
When I’ve spent time in meditation, quiet, feeling, being, doing The Work, contemplating…
…my actions sink down into the entire body and even spread out into the universe.
If I think that I SHOULD take action, I get a little paralyzed and frustrated. If I think I SHOULDN’T take action, I get a little paralyzed and frustrated. Ha!
And….I love what that speaker said that suggested watching the experience of staying inside the mind, thinking, without bustin’ a move.
“I need to wait before I take action on x, y or z”.
If it’s stressful to wait…then yes, take it to The Work!
Is that true that you need to wait? That you need to be careful? That you need to gather more info before trying it?
Yes. I really want to make the best move possible. I have to weigh it out, pull together all the information, find the “right” answer.
Can you absolutely know that it’s true that you need to wait?
No.
How do you react when you believe you need to wait?
My head almost explodes with finding the perfect answer. I practically forget I have a body. I talk to other people and hash it over.
Who would you be without the belief that you need to wait?
Jumping! Dancing! Entering the heat!
Willing to see what happens next, with no mental plans. Making an offer, asking for what I want, connecting with others, feeling delighted with what I love.
Trusting what will be. Surrendering to what is. Having a universe that’s waaaaaaay bigger than me. Peaceful, steady, quiet, joyful.
I turn the thought around: I do not need to wait, I can take action.
I’ve noticed when I have no right and wrong, when it’s not possible to make a mistake anymore, when I’ve questioned my assumptions…
…more possibilities spring forth. The creativity is almost so great, I’m bursting with ideas.
I’m not making any action happen, it’s happening of its own accord.
Everything moving with balance. Sometimes sound asleep, sometimes wide awake.
“It’s a curious place to be (especially in the beginning) not to be driven by anything–pleasure or displeasure, helping or hurting, loving or hating. The only thing that will move you (and I don’t mean to be too poetic about this) is the same thing that moves a leaf hanging from a tree. It’s simply because the breeze blows that way. So you always know what to do: The breeze blows that way, and that’s the way you go. You don’t ask questions anymore. You don’t evaluate why the breeze is blowing that way because you know that you don’t know why. And you know you can’t know why. There’s never been a leaf anywhere that knows why the wind blows that way on that day at that moment.” ~ Adyashanti
I don’t really know if I need to question my thoughts, or move, or go left or right. All I do know is that when I’m freakin’ out, I am believing in things that scare me and it hurts. In that situation, there’s no peace.
When I’m peaceful (and oddly, this includes being OK with feeling afraid) life is so much more fun.
“There are two ways to live your life, one is stressed out, one is not. One hurts, one doesn’t.” ~ Byron Katie
In the present moment, I act, I move, I am still, I do The Work…who knows until I get there. No way to know why or how or when, until now.
If you do notice that you’d like to set aside 90 minutes a week for group inquiry together, and see how that affects the action you take in your life (or non-action) then come on board on Fridays 9-10:30 am pacific time for a Year of Inquiry.
The Closeness in Inquiry
“I was just thinking about how much I love all you amazing people in our group. It’s funny that I feel so much closer to you than I do many of my friends!” ~ YOI participant
Much love,
Grace