Connecting with Inspiration and Choosing Inspired Action

Inspiration is the basis of inspired action and is often overridden by our intellect when we are focused on the stresses of our daily lives and the subsequent demands of “doing.” From this viewpoint many of our choices are unconscious as we may operate on “automatic pilot” doing what we think we need to do from our never ending to do lists.

This automatic pilot thing is something we have all experienced in our lifetimes. In our culture, the conditioning and coding model has been one that rewarded and responded to doing. Notice how often the word do creeps into your awareness.

What did you do today?
What are you going to do about that?
How well did you do on that exam?
What do you want to do?

These are common examples of how doing permeates our lives. In our minds we are rewarded for doing and we beat ourselves up for not doing. The external reference on what we have done tends to override the internal reference of who we are being and how we are feeling. Often the doing is unconscious and it’s impossible to connect with inspiration and inspired action when we are overwhelmed by what we “need to do.”

I teach my clients to approach doing differently. Instead of living in what I fondly refer to as do do land; we focus on the choice to do based on what moves us closer to what we desire. You see the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. When you choose the actions that move your closer to your desired end result and let go of doing what does not support your desired end result, you have more time and energy for life.

More time and energy allows the noticing of inspiration and leads to inspired action.

So how do you leave do do land?

Here are three simple actions you can take today to begin the process:

-Stop “shoulding” on yourself. Every time you hear yourself say should, ask yourself if taking this action will move you closer to what you desire. If the answer is yes, then go for it and if the answer is no, consider taking it off your list.
-Notice what you are tolerating and eliminate them. Tolerations are what you are putting up with; clutter, things that need to be fixed, relationships that drain . . . choose to eliminate these from your world and you will create more time and energy for what matters.
-Divide your to do list into the following categories; do it now, do it later maybe, delegate it, and dump it. (Do it later maybe is the place to hold all those great ideas you don’t want to forget and you’re not ready to deal with now).

Now that we have do do land handled let’s look at inspiration.

Inspiration is defined in the following ways:

-a divine influence
-the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions
-the act of influencing
-the act of drawing in; specifically: the drawing of air into the lungs
-the quality or state of being inspired

Inspired action comes when we are so present to our intuitive knowing, our hunches, inklings, inspirations, and we act on these as they come to us. Intuition is a spiritual faculty. It does not explain, it just points the way. You can ask for guidance by saying something like this: "Infinite spirit, reveal to me the way. Let me know if there’s anything for me to do." Then wait until you have the inspiration to act. Remember, ask and it’s given. Your job is to get out of your way so you can recognize and respond to the inspiration that’s yours by divine right!