The Power of Intentional Action
The power of intentional, committed, consistent action cannot be under-estimated.
It requires discernment and clarity as well as a re-working of our understanding of value.
We have been conditioned to live in a world where the rat-race is glorified; Where being “busy” is a mark of importance and a way to stoke the ego. Where doing is prioritized over being. We attach so many stories and limiting beliefs to this idea: how efficient and capable we are of juggling it all, how success only comes to those who are perpetually busy, how it’s impossible to do it any other way because that’s not real life. The conditioning runs so deep that our nervous systems have become wired for the stress response that accompanies this kind of living. They are wound up so tight that when we do try to practice a slower pace, we feel unsettled and unproductive. There is a discomfort in the being because we have bought in to the construct that our purpose and our value are tied to our ability to perform.
It is this performative aspect that keeps us stuck in loops: jobs we don’t like, relationships that no longer serve, commitments that deplete us, environments that are toxic.
When we link our internal value to the external validation we receive from others for performing to their standards, we disconnect from ourselves.
We continue to do all the things we are expected to do, but can’t understand why they don’t yield the results or if they yield the results, why we feel unsatisfied, unhappy or as if we haven’t arrived. As long as the actions we take are unconscious performances for something external to ourselves, we will never feel whole, or at peace within our being. If we allow our personal value to be tangled up in the evaluation scales the world offers for whether we are valuable or not, we will forever be chasing a carrot and come to the end of our lives wondering what we did it for.
So what if we shifted from hundreds, perhaps thousands of small, unconscious actions into intentional, focused, clear, consistent action? In other words, what is your biggest possible move? Notice the singular. Not moves, but move. If you are trying to change your health picture, what is your biggest possible move? If you are working on a relationship, what is your biggest possible move? If you are launching a business, or looking to scale, what is your biggest possible move? If you are wanting a specific job, what is your biggest possible move? You get the picture….
What if you asked yourself this question every day? How would your doing look different? And when you consider the words: biggest, possible move, are you also considering the concept of: in your capacity? The goal is not to replace one striving with another, it’s to come into alignment with yourself, what you are able to give and allowing that to be enough. It’s not performative, it’s just a reflection of you. On some days, your biggest possible move might be to retreat and do nothing at all so you can come back stronger.
What if you began prioritizing nervous system regulation as the barometer for the actions you are taking? What if you learned to set boundaries not from a place of sticking it to someone or as a form of protest, but as a form of self-respect? What if you stopped looking around at what others were doing and began asking yourself: do I want to do that too? Is that right for me? What if you began cultivating your personal value for yourself, and you believed in the level of value that you bring to something, simply because of who you are, so much that you allowed the work you do to stand for itself no extra embellishment needed? What if the reason you gave something your everything had nothing to do with what you could get as a result, and everything to do with how you show up for the things that matter to you? What if you let go of the need to prove yourself to those around you and simply began doing what is in alignment with your spirit? What if the only validation you sought was that of your internal knowing that you are moving in the right direction for you; on your timeline; in your story? What would begin to fall away from your life if you began living this way? What could you magnetize into your life by stepping into this level of personal power?
The truth is that many of the health struggles we face today occur because we have convinced ourselves that personal worth, personal value, validation and success are tied to a level of efficiency that we were never meant to sustain for long periods of time. We are human beings, not human doings. The level of awareness we bring to the ways we have bound ourselves to constructs and programs for the purposes of propping up our ego or being accepted in the fold, is the key to the unravelling.
