Aligned Action, Authentic Growth

“Right action arises naturally from right presence.” ~ Jack Kornfield

Action taken on behalf of our growth, without self-awareness, can actually create an enormous amount of stress and lead us to wonder if maintaining instead of growing is safer than expressing our true potential.

This often happens at the start of the year when it’s time to create or reassess our healthy resolutions. There is an initial excitement about embracing change and the actions necessary to be better or improve ourselves. At the end of the day, no matter what the motivation is, we take action because we want to feel better—and that includes actions that fully support others.

For some, they have a clear plan of action and know exactly what steps to take. For others, the path isn’t clear, and there is a feeling of anxiously searching and a willingness to try just about anything at least once, in hopes that it sticks.

Before we even decide on what actions to take, we must first look within to fully understand what we truly need. While that bootcamp class may get your body strong and toned, the restorative yoga class might be what your nervous system actually needs—to come out of fight-or-flight and allow for natural repair.

So how do we align with right action when we feel the pressure to act quickly, before we lose momentum or motivation?

We slow down and check in with ourselves to decide what’s best:

1. Do you have the emotional, mental, and physical space to commit to taking any action at all?
   

2. When you think about the action to be taken, or the biggest action on a list, where do you feel it in your body?
   

3. What emotions come through after the physical feeling—excitement, dread, uncertainty?
   

4. When you think of success in the action or list of actions, how do you feel? Elated, accomplished, indifferent, fatigued?

Just because an action is hard, and the thought or feeling initially feels daunting, doesn’t mean it isn’t right for you. And just because it feels easy and doable doesn’t mean that it is. It’s okay to be “lazy” and lounge around while waiting for an internal signal. Just don’t give up—keep it in your awareness.

As someone who is naturally drawn to take action the moment I find it is needed, I know how it feels to want to move before the motivation fades. But what if we normalize taking time in taking action? Allowing ourselves to unpack the mental, emotional, and physical effects of the process. And how about we normalize that it is okay to not take external action, that much of what happens externally begins with the deep work we do internally?

Aligning with right action means that we are the ones who get to define what is right for us, and when we move.

No self-judgment, no self-shame, and no accepting either from anyone else.

The journey is yours.

With love and gratitude,
Dana Andrea