Action

Action cuts to the truth of character. Our minds often obfuscate the simple solutions and basic truths of our selves and our contexts. When we pierce through the noise and focus on how we enact our energy in the world, we can truly assess our impact. Self-doubt and inner critics, or the opposite pole of over aggrandizing the self, create webs of delusion and mistrust. They cloud our authentic narratives with red herrings, confusing what is true with the effervescent bubbling of the “monkey mind.”

Buddhist teachers point to the monkey mind as the part of mind that is blinded by attachment and grasping at the edges of duality. Thinking through the lens of dualism enables delusions of separateness, control, and permanence. Allow your mind to cleave the judgements of dualistic thinking. Enter into the singularity of action, into the holism of non-judgement, and through this, find your truth.

Practice: Tune into dualistic thinking. Do you find yourself judging things as “good” or “bad”? Notice when you judge and ask yourself, why?

Challenge: What if you were to refrain from judgement? Of yourself, of others, of the events unfurling around you. See what happens when you give things space to exist as they are, without subjecting them to the narrow confines of a judgement.