“Inspired action is action that feels effortless and joyous and brings no stress.” —Abraham
Before my obsession with all things Law of Attraction, my relationship with inspired action was infrequent at best. In fact, if I took inspired action it was usually by accident rather than anything intentional or conscious on my part.
Most of the action I used to take was anything but effortless, joyous, and without stress.
On this podcast I’ve juxtaposed inspired action and efforting as a way to name these two very different types of action.
- If inspired action is effortless, efforting, as the name suggests, is full of effort, of trying to make things happen, of pushing and forcing.
- If inspired action is joyous, efforting has the quality of buckling down, hustling, slogging. There is no lightness to efforting.
- If inspired action brings no stress, well, you guessed it—stress is inherent in efforting. You experience all kinds of tension when you are efforting—mentally, emotionally, and physically.
I often refer to the opposite of inspired action as efforting, but you could also describe it simply as uninspired action.
One of the reasons many of us are efforting or taking uninspired action is because we are jumping into action when what we should be doing is waiting.
“You are action oriented to your detriment. And we’re not trying to talk you out of action. We’re just wanting to talk you into Alignment first, and then inspired action.” —Abraham
If your M.O. is action before alignment or action when you are knocked out of alignment or action for the sake of action, then you are missing out on the sweet and satisfying and successful experience of inspired action.
When I say a commitment to inspired action often means waiting, I don’t mean necessarily waiting time-wise. I mean waiting until you are in alignment. As Abraham says: “It’s not about action…it’s about vibrational alignment.”
Let me share a recent personal example. I always wait to outline and record my podcast episodes until it is inspired action.
That means I might create a couple episodes in a day, or one a week, or none a week. I have been so in the flow some weeks that I create, create, create, and lo and behold, three new episodes exist. But it can work the other way too.
I made a commitment to myself before I recorded the very first episode of Love Your Life that I would only work on this podcast when doing so is inspired action. When it is joyous and easy and fun. I am really proud to say I have honored that commitment to myself.
Which means a particular episode, which I had started in a high vibe state, then sat untouched for nearly two weeks. Because working on it would not have been inspired action.
As this process unfolded, I observed. I watched the first couple days go by and it was so easy to wait. Then the next three or four days went by, and my commitment to inspired action remained strong, but I was also curious: Hmmm…I wonder how much time will pass before working on the episode will be the inspired action? Or will it ever be?
I was in complete agreement with Abraham’s advice: “Find the feeling place, and then find the inspired action. Don’t offer action in order to try to make something happen.”
I did not want to work on an episode to get it done, to meet a deadline, to tick a box. I did not want to offer action to try to make something happen. Three years into my obsession with Law of Attraction, I know better.
So I waited.
Here’s an important point: I waited with no big story about the waiting. Yes, I noticed the episode wasn’t “happening”, but I was curious and trusting. I knew that no outcome, no result, was worth taking action that wasn’t aligned.
I trusted if the episode was meant to be, there would be inspired action at some point. I didn’t have a big story about: Oh my gosh what if I never feel inspired to finish the episode or continue with the show? What if the episodes I have in the queue —because I love margin—what if they run out? I didn’t should myself into action.
The bottom line is this: Inspired action often means waiting.
Now, the previous version of me was so used to making myself do things. Things I thought I should do. Things I “had” to do. Things I simply made myself do whether I felt like it or not.
Back then I really didn’t know action could be effortless, joyous, and bring no stress. I thought effort and stress were the price you had to pay to get whatever that action was going to bring. To make the money or reach the goal, to get the client or mark the item off a To Do list.
What I didn’t realize was with all that action I was taking, yes, I was getting results, but they were so much less than what was possible.
They were what you get when you manual your way through life rather than get in the magical flow of the Universe. They were the results you get when you struggle and strive and slog rather than follow the flow of inspiration.
“Action that comes from the feeling of inspiration is action that will produce good results, for you are allowing the Laws of the Attraction of the Universe to carry you.” —Abraham
Doesn’t that sound nice—to allow the Laws of the Attraction of the Universe carry you?
Now, don’t be tempted to put “inspiration” on some kind of pedestal and think it’s for other people.
The feeling of inspiration is available to you. The energy of inspiration is available to you. It really and truly is. No matter who you are and what your job is, no matter what your life circumstances or your current conditions may be.
The feeling and energy of inspiration are available to you.
“Your work is to go forth into this physical environment looking for things that are a vibrational match to joy, connecting to Source Energy, and then following with the inspired action.” —Abraham
My intention is to shine a light on the fork in the road between inspired action and uninspired action.
I want to help you notice more easily when you are at the crossroads and could go one way or the other. To do that, let me share these 10 distinctions between inspired action and uninspired action. See where you have an opportunity to choose inspired action.
- If you are focused on the how of what you want, you are likely headed in the direction of uninspired, efforting action. That’s because when you are focused on figuring out how, you are primed to take action, any action, not necessarily inspired action. Instead, let the Universe take care of the how.
- If you are focused on pros and cons, you are not opening a pathway for the inspired idea, the inspired impulse. Whenever my mind wants me to get out a piece of paper and make columns of pros and cons, I know I’ve just closed the door to inspired action.
- If the action you are considering feels like work, there is no clearer sign: That my friends, is efforting, not inspired action. Along those same lines, if the action feels draining rather than energizing, that is most definitely uninspired action.
- If you are not drawn or called to the action you are taking, but feel you should or have to, that is uninspired action. Inspired action is never about shoulding yourself. Abraham says: “Action that is inspired from aligned thought is joyful action. Action that is offered from a place of contradicted thought is hard work that is not satisfying and does not yield good results. When you really feel like jumping into action, that is a clear sign that your vibration is pure and you are not offering contradicted thoughts to your own desire. When you are having a hard time making yourself do something, or when the action you offer does not produce the results you are seeking, it is always because you are offering thoughts in opposition to your desire.”
- If you are not excited about the action you are taking, if you wouldn’t describe it as fun, that is uninspired action. Bashar says: “Your excitement is telling you that’s the next thing you need to do. Following your excitement is actually the shortest path to what you want.” So following your excitement is always going to be inspired action.
- If you are are taking action to make something else happen—so it’s not action for the sheer enjoyment of what you are doing—that is efforting. So if you’re taking action to get a result, like making yourself work out a certain amount of time each week to get the result of a lower number on the scale or dropping a size, that is uninspired action. On the other hand, if you are working out because you love the way it feels, that is inspired action.
- If there’s a lot of resistance in the action you are taking, if you are encountering friction, frustration, and obstacles, that’s a sign you are not taking inspired action. Uninspired action feels like you are slogging your way forward, not moving with the flow of your own energy and the flow of the Universe.
- If you are taking action from a misaligned state, in other words, when you feel bad, that is not inspired action. Abraham says: “The rule of thumb is, you never take action when there is negative emotion within you because it will always be counterproductive. Always talk to yourself until you feel better and then follow the inspired action that comes from that open valve.”
- If you are taking action dictated by a project plan you came up with months ago or a To Do list you created last week, there’s a good chance you are taking uninspired action. That’s because you are doing something you decided on in the past, not connecting to what the inspired action is in the present moment.
- Likewise, if you are putting off the impulses you receive because you are too busy with the business of life, then you’re missing opportunities to take inspired action. Abraham says: “Everything is happening now, now, now, now, now…So when you get an inspiration about something to do with someone else, the inspiration that you are getting is happening NOW. Not tomorrow when you have more time…NOW.”
I’m sure at least one of those 10 distinctions between inspired action and efforting offers you an opportunity.
“When it’s inspired action, the whole of the Universe is flowing with you.” —Abraham
I encourage you to co-create with the Universe by tapping into the joy and flow, the momentum and resources of inspired action.
Make a commitment to inspired action: Follow your joy. Act on what excites you.
