How do you know what action to take? Most of us don’t really think much about it – we just act.
However, the same behavior toward others can have very different energy, depending on the internal source. Let’s say you have a friend who invites you to join them at a party. Your first reaction might be delight at the invitation, followed by dismay because you want to say no but don’t want to hurt your friend’s feelings. Or perhaps you feel delight and then hope about what might happen at the party. Either way, you have an agenda, something you are trying to get or to avoid. We are often overtaken by our unconscious agendas and act out of habitual, automatic response patterns. A more serious example might be making a financial gift to a friend or organization – this act of generosity could be done with an agenda of getting recognition or influencing spending decisions of the recipient, rather than with an open heart and no attachment. The two have very different energies in your own system. Action without self-awareness about motivation can result in negative impact.
I offer this now as an invitation for you to consider for yourself: if you see a piece of trash on the sidewalk, do you pick it up? Do you pick it up while judging the one who left it there? What if you picked it up as an act of love? Does the way in which you act make a difference in the impact of your action?
I have found this verse from the Tao Te Ching, Chapter 15, translated by Stephen Mitchell, helpful to mediate on when I am considering my own possible actions:
Do you have the patience to wait
Till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
Till the right action arises by itself?
The Master doesn’t seek fulfillment.
Not seeking, not expecting.
She is present, and can welcome all things.
