I’ve been working on a project over the last few months to create a transcription and full workbook for my E-Workshop “Create a Life Worth Falling in Love With” and in the process of listening and reading each audio, I realized there is so much more to say about inspired action than I said in the workshop. (Which means a re-record, but that’s another story!)
Inspired action is the action that just ‘feels right’, the action that maybe doesn’t even make sense, but you just know that it’s what you need to do. It’s the light-bulb moment, the random idea that pops up when you’re working through your to-do list, or driving the car, or just about to fall asleep. It’s not logical, it’s not ‘well-thought-through’ and it doesn’t come from someone else.
It comes from within you, or from a Divine source. It’s not what you think you should do. It’s not what someone else did that seems like it might be a good idea but doesn’t seem to work for you. It’s not the action we’re used to taking – we’re used to logical, thought-through, step by step, sensible, head-led action.
We’re not used to inspired action. It’s not taught in school. It’s not taught in most workplaces. So I thought I’d share my top 5 tips for taking inspired action:
1. Space and quiet
Inspired ideas cannot reach you through the noise and busyness of life. Slow down. Take space. Allow yourself to stop. Stare out of the window. Meditate. Go and sit somewhere with a notepad and pen and free-write. Dance. (I often get some of my best ideas while I’m bopping around my office!)
Shorten your toodle-do list. Start the day with some thoughtful time. Get quiet enough to hear the voice of your inspiration. Ask your angels/guides/God/Goddess for help to hear the voice of your inspiration. Ask your angels/guides/God/Goddess for inspiration. Pray. Stretch. Run. Walk in nature.
Play. Laugh. Be silly. Draw. Paint. Put your hands in the dirt. Get off twitter, facebook, Instagram etc. Listen to your body, mind, heart and soul. Be open. Allow yourself to get bored. Switch off the tv. Watch the world go by. Do whatever appeals to you to create space and quiet time so you can hear your inspiration.
2. Limit outside-input
Listen, there are thousands of people telling you how you have to live your life (me included!). And it can be great to follow people who are doing what you want to do and getting ideas and inspiration from them…but they have to come second to your own inspiration. You may think that you don’t know what to do and you need an outsider to tell you how.
But how do you know who to listen to and what advice to take if you can’t hear your own inner wisdom? How can you judge their advice without a connection to your inner yes? If you haven’t got that connection, you just end up overloading on advice, never taking any of it and feeling like shit. (Perhaps not realizing that you feel like shit because your inner yes is screaming NO!)
And these days the input from outside is relentless. Blogs, e-mails, facebook, twitter, pinterest, Instagram, text. Everywhere you go, there is more information to consume, filling your mind with so much that it cannot have a thought of its own; filling your head with so much chatter that you can’t hear the still, small voice within.
So start limiting what comes in from outside and expanding what comes out from inside. While there are some awesome people out there that will give you fantastic advice (me included!), your most accurate source of wisdom comes from within you. After all, who knows you and your dreams better than you? And you can’t hear you if you’re drowning you out with noise.
3. Practice hearing your inspiration…and following it
So, you’re creating space, you’re limiting outside-input and expanding your ability to inside-output…now keep practicing. No-one is unable to do this. You get better by practicing – like with any other life skill from driving a car to making pancakes, the more you do it, the easier it gets.
Practice getting quiet. Practice listening. Experiment with different approaches. Try getting inspiration while watching tv or hanging out on facebook (possible, but unlikely). Try meditation. Try free-writing or morning pages. Try asking questions of your inspiration. Try prayer. Try getting inspiration in 30 seconds. Try taking hours.
When you get an inspired idea, follow it. As soon as you can, before the energy dissipates. Notice if “shoulds” masquerade as inspired ideas. Notice that busywork is seductive and loud…and inspired action is quiet and feels right. Notice the difference between inspired action that comes from you, ‘should’ action, copycat action, busywork, and shit you just need to do.
Notice that inspired action feels easy. Notice how you feel about things being easy (a lot of people struggle with it!) Notice the results – inspired action doesn’t always give you an exact and direct outcome. Sometimes you write a book and that leads to another amazing opportunity you would never have imagined…often inspired action is a seed planted that grows later.
Notice what it feels like when you just ‘do what feels right’.
4. Give logic a rest
“The number of reasons you have to do something is inversely proportional to how much you actually want to do it.” – Michael Neill. Inspired actions don’t need reasons…you just do them. Because they feel right. Don’t try to justify your inspired actions. Even to yourself. Just do them.
We often use logic to try to explain why we should take an inspired action…but often inspired action is illogical, so we end up talking ourselves out of it instead. So give logic a break. The most successful and fun things I’ve done are the most illogical, the ones that make the least sense.
Don’t let sense stand in the way of an inspired idea. Don’t try to rationalize the ‘feels right’ feeling. The logical path is safe and tried and tested…and sometimes boring. Colour outside the lines. Play. Have fun. Enjoy your life. Take actions that make no sense to your head but make your heart sing. Don’t have reasons to do things, just do them. Or not.
5. Trust your inspiration
Because inspired actions don’t always make sense, they require a leap of faith from you. So have faith. Take the leap. Be brave. Trust your inspiration. Trust yourself. Trust that you have the answers within you. And that if you don’t, inspiration will show you the path to find your answers. (Possibly with the help of Auntie Google!)
I know so many people who have spent years trusting other people over themselves (me included), but when they learn to trust themselves, life gets easier…and more fun. Your inspiration will lead you where you want to go, your inspiration will make the journey more fun, your inspiration will help you.
But you have to trust it.
Once you do, outside input can come back, because you now have a bullshit barometer – your inner wisdom will show you if something is useful for you or a total distraction. (Tip: if you read a “you have to do this” mail and it makes you feel inadequate, pissed off or sick to your stomach, that’s your inner wisdom telling you to go find another way.)
Inspired action is so much more fun, easier, and effective than doing what you think you should do. Give it a try, let me know how you get on…and if you have top tips for connecting with, hearing and following inspiration, let me know!
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