Intention
A question I keep asking myself is: “what is the inner motivation behind XYZ action?”
Am I doing or engaging in something based on fear or on love?
Asking and answering these questions require a bit of awareness since it can be so easy to fall into the hypnosis of daily tasks.
I’ve found that when I consistently do something that a part of me judges, it’s a good time to check in and ask what the inner motivation is.
Lately, I’ve been “multitasking” a lot. Even when I’m brushing my teeth, I feel the need to read emails or listen to messages in order to “cross things off my list”. It’s pretty insane. In the two minutes of cleaning my teeth, my mind feels the need to cram in even more actions in order to feel what? Accomplished? It’s definitely not a time management thing because I have plenty of time in the day - my phone tells me I spend many more minutes than I would like to admit on social media.
What was the inner motivation then for cramming a bunch of tasks in the two minutes? The mind belief of if I wasn’t rushing through life and feeling anxious about “how much I had to do”, then I wasn’t being a good enough human. Humans are supposed to be busy, productive and outputting constantly.
Pinpointing that belief and seeing it for what it is - fear of not being good enough - brings in so much awareness and understanding of what I was doing and how unnecessary it was. It also brings in compassion for myself, instead of judgement. I’m not thinking, “oh, you should have known better. You talk about the importance of being present. Why aren’t you integrating what you read and learn about?!” Nope. Instead, I feel an enormous amount of compassion and understanding. “Of course you think you have to be a hyper-productive person, society tells us that constantly!”
Another great check in time for me has been…when I’m judging others.
I’m shocked every time because when I ask myself what the inner motivation is to judge another person, always the answer is that I judge myself for the same exact reason. And I had no idea I was doing it.
I’ve always heard that people are like mirrors, especially the people who bring up a ton of emotional charge within me. But I couldn’t see how that applied to what I was judging people on.
Understanding the intention behind actions and behaviors unveils so much about what we believe to be true. And what’s great is that the moment we become aware of the beliefs, they can be seen through as anything but real and true.
When I take action from a place of love, the action itself and even any outcomes from it feel so much better and joyous than an action taken out of fear.
So, ask yourself today: what is the inner motivation behind the action?
