Detached action is the removing of one's own internal dialogue and reasoning structure from our decision making and actions. Learning how to separate your personal conversation on whether to take action towards something or not benefits us for a number of reasons, but, most importantly, is a profound way of building trust with one's own self.
Oftentimes, we may have inklings of things that could be done to improve our lives. It can be a default way of thinking to immediately begin to talk yourself out of taking action; especially on the smaller things. We wrestle back and forth with a voice that needs to understand the benefits of such action before we begin anything at all. I argue that learning to quiet that voice, and making steps towards a beginning, even when there is little to no understanding of how it will benefit us, is the key in our journeys towards fulfillment.
Years ago, when I was going through a particularly difficult time, I felt like getting through each day was just about all that I could muster. To make it easier on myself, I imagined breaking my day into two parts. At the time, I had a job working in the evenings, and in preparation I would shower and begin my day for a second time each afternoon. While the water flowed over me, I would converse with God. "That's it. That's all the energy that I have in me for today. God? Will you please take over and act through me? I don't want to make any more decisions." And I would turn me Day, Part II over to God.
It was a simple conversation. A daily prayer, but it made my life more manageable. The way that internal dialogue worked for me, at the time, made it easier for me to converse with customers, and put on a brave face for the world.
Years later, I have come to form a deeper appreciation for that connection I built. I can freely ask God to guide me on things, just as small as that, as getting through a day, all the way up to some of my biggest projects in life.
Another way that I frame it for myself, was a message that I posed internally at age 19, another era that I was facing difficulty and strife in my life. At age 19, I had just gotten out of the hospital, recently having been diagnosed with a chronic illness. In the journey of being diagnosed, I learned that I could be taking better care of myself, and perhaps, that self-care would be the ticket to a long, helthy and normal life.
Upon getting out of the hospital, my childhood friend and I drove down to our city center and got tattoos. To this day, it is the only tattoo that I have ever gotten, but it sits on my wrist, and in my own handwriting it reads, "Love." For me, it is a reminder to love myself in a way that God would if she were sitting at the table with me and making decisions on my behalf. When God feels too far away, I ask myself to make decisions as if I were my parents making decisions for me through perfect love.
Taking action through detachment does more than make our days more manageable. It leads to inspiration, an inspiration that, if you can release reason, is bigger than we can comprehend.
When we lean into taking detached action, we slowly take better and better care of ourselves, which leads to steady (not linear) growth. Our care can begin to unfurl out into the world and soon becomes undeniable to all who pass through our presence. To take action without reason, but with trust, is infectious, even when not understood. There may come a day when you find yourself enjoying things you never thought possible, simply by following the first quiet steps.
When we get to a place where our energy can expand so far out of us that we are in states of creation, the inspiration travels infinitely more quickly. There are two ways that works. When you create, you inspire with creation and by creation. There will be people, perhaps some that you never have nor never will meet, that will be moved by the words you write, the songs you sing and maybe even the meals you made that get regaled years down the line.
Creation also inspires others by the act of creation. The fact that you use your voice, brings others to a state of action as well. You inspire by what you create with your life as well as the life you create for yourself.
Again, the best part of all of this is the ripple effect that you cannot see, you cannot comprehend, that stretches further out than your wildest dreams.
Every step that you take, even songs that no one ever heard come from you, or art enjoyed and destroyed immediately after creation, are felt. Everyone you come across feels the effects of the choices you make to serve your greater good.