Practices.
Authentic Inaction™ is first and foremost a practice. It is a practice of slowing down, being with and letting go of our bias towards action.
Authentic Inaction™ is found in those small but important moments in our day-to-day lives where we can, and yet rarely do, make choices that connect who we are with what we do.
Authentic Inaction™ is not a choice between “being” and “doing”, it is about bringing the two into harmony.
Authentic Inaction™ allows us to choose a ‘less-productive’ life. A life that acknowledges the limits of our attention, energy and time. But in return, brings into sharper focus what it is we are truly meant to do.
Free 4-Step Guide to Authentic Inaction™
Being deeply passionate about supporting others to live a life with greater Authentic Inaction™ I’ve created a free guide that breaks down the 4 steps, you’ll find below, even further.
I break down each of the 4 steps to help you gain greater awareness through journal prompts, creating lists, mantras, reflection and more. Download your free 4 step guide by filling out the information to the right!
Four Steps
How can you implement the practice of Authentic Inaction™ in your own lives?
Step 1. Becoming Aware.
It is that moment when we look at ourselves in the mirror and say, “I am an action junky”. Without first becoming aware of the addiction and how it is playing out in our lives, we are powerless to change it … no different than other addictions.
Step 2. Adoption of 3 Beliefs.
The first belief is that our addiction to “doing” is not emotionally and physically healthy. It is not serving us or anyone else in our life that loves us.
The second belief is around authenticity — which is not just about knowing who we are, but understanding how our actions reflect to others who we are more vividly than anything else.
The third belief is a rejection of the lie that says do more, it is not yet enough.
Step 3. Who am I, and What am I to ‘Do’?
If we stay with this question long enough, sit with it in our daily lives, the answers will come. Start simply. Begin making a list about what inspires you, what depletes you, what slowly sucks the soul out of your body. Look for themes. Look for the obvious. Look for the outliers.
Do you host a holiday dinner every year but don't enjoy it?
Do you raise your hand to take on a project you don’t really want to do or realistically even have time for?
Do you commit to waking up early to meet a friend for a workout knowing what you truly want and need is to sleep in?
When our own patterns and reasons for doing become clear, and we are fully committed to connecting who we are with what we do, when a moment arises for us to say yes or no, to do or not to do, we will make the right choice. Our action, or inaction, will be authentic.
Step 4. Falling and Choosing Again.
We need to accept that in many circumstances, we won’t hear or even listen to our more authentic voice. That familiar pattern of saying yes, when we mean no, may win. And, when it does, pause and take a deep breath. Be willing to sit with the discomfort that comes when we are at risk, yet again, of taking another action that does not line up with who we really are. And next time, choose again.
What do you authentically desire for your life?
“Being an action junky is an addiction, and like other addictions, recovery is possible. When we begin to undo the doing in our own do-crazy worlds, we’ll begin living a healthier and more authentic life.
My hope in my own life, is to stay committed to my own recovery. To wholeheartedly believe that who I am, what I have, and what I have done is already enough.
I deeply and wholeheartedly wish that same thing for you.”
— Renée Dineen