Taking Action - A How To Guide

[praisetheurdtree]

I’ve come across some discussion about taking action. It tends to pop up a lot in LAO circles. Some people claim that you don’t need to do anything, others that you must take action. So far as I can tell, both are true but there is a misunderstanding about the types of action to be taken.

There are two types of action:

Conscious, calculated, deliberate action.

And

Intuitive action.

These two types of action have been recognized by ancient peoples, particularly the ancient Chinese. Confucius, Mencius, Lao Tzu and other ancient Chinese philosophers preached a doctrine of non-action, or effortless action.

It’s less complicated then it sounds.

When you are taking conscious action, you are operating from the conscious mind. You are thinking, analyzing, planning, executing, and thinking some more. It has its places, but in the social realm, it appears “forced” and “awkward” because you are robotically forcing yourself into action. “Socially awkward” people tend to be over thinkers. Their movements and speaking appears forced because it is.

Intuitive action is action from the subconscious. Think of a virtuoso pianist losing himself in the music. Think of an athlete flawlessly playing the game. These people aren’t thinking, they are acting from intuition. This is the type of action that the Chinese sages spoke of. This is what we are seeing when we see a really social and charismatic person.

How do you do it? Trust the subliminals.

The subliminals are reprogramming your subconscious mind, and they can only truly shine when you allow yourself to act from the subconscious, i.e. to act from intuition.

The conscious can override the subconscious, that’s how we are able to make choices, it’s also how we are able to force ourselves to do things that our body doesn’t want to do.

So, back to the opening statement. Both forms of action are needed at different times. We must consciously train ourselves sometimes, but in the end, we must let go and just watch where our intuition takes us.

This is how its possible to take action without doing anything. We allow our Conscious Minds to rest, while the subconscious takes control. So we aren’t forcing, we are taking non-action, but the body is still acting in the material world.

Make sense?

Just thought I’d share. Now time for me to take my own advice.

Listen, journal (set intention and track progress), take effortless action.

Let it flow, your subconscious will get you there.

P.S.

I didn’t tell you how to do it because I can’t, but I promise you can figure it out. For thousands of years philosophers have come to this conclusion and for thousands of years people have beat their heads against the wall trying to understand it. If I said I understood it perfectly, I’d be a liar, but I’ve been able to enter that effortless zone from time to time. When I do, I truly get all I ask for.

[jaguar]

Thanks for sharing that man! Makes sense and now that I think about it, I have definitely done that in the past and i always have the best results with this method. But sometimes you need to force yourself to do something, it’s called discipline. And when you start doing it then you feel better about it and then the part of non action starts where you get into the flow state

[Goldaura]

Excellent post. Ive studied Confucius a bit recently on my University degree.

Its important to develop both.
Its a valuable skill to be able to think practically.

For example when you are on the train to work or uni THINK practically about what you need to do.

For example you could have finance problems so you research how to eat healthy on a budget.

Sometimes the highest form of Spiritual advancement is thinking practically on what must be done.

[Malkuth]

Topics tend to come and go in cycles on the discussion forum.

And this conversation reminded me of a related one that I’d started 2 years earlier.

Thought I’d link it here.

Three points about taking action

We usually talk about how taking action helps the subconscious to create change. I think this is true and that there are also other reasons that taking action is important. Was writing this down for myself, but figured it would be good to write it here too. Helpful points about action Helps your subconscious to help you. (This is the one we usually talk about.) Taking action exposes you to more opportunities for growth and opportunities in general. You make it easier for your subconscio…

[Lichtenauer]

I made the same experience with dancing salsa. At first your learning certain figures. On the dancefloor you think, take conscious action and ad one figure you learned to another. With time, you get a feeling for the music and choose the figures fitting to the rhythm and the style of the music. And with time, the moves become part of your personality, you understand figures intuitively and you take them apart and reassemble them unconsciously so that your dance is showing how you feel and interpret the music.

I’m on day five of emperor, and I realize how the first thought patterns change. I still take conscious action, but simultaneously I notice how some minor things happen on its own.