Understanding——————Action
This gap. This in-between. The practice of putting understanding into action, to me, can feel like one of the hardest paths to walk. But in the gap from understanding to action-what’s there? What’s in between these two points? What is it about this gap that makes it seem un-crossable? Unable to be conquered?
Since so many things can be drawn back to fear-is it the fear of leaving the certainty of understanding? Or what we tell ourselves is certainty? We can convince ourselves and become very certain of what we believe we understand. And those understandings may very well be truths, but does there need to be action in your truths? Does truth need to be made a verb before a full understanding can be reached? In a lot of ways, I believe so. Just the same as faith, hope, love, joy, etc are not only feelings ( concepts, understandings) they are verbs (actions, movements).
What is in between understanding (concept) love and being in love (action)?
The Fog-Covered Bridge of the Unknown!
Thunder claps. Lightning strikes. Windows rattle. Scary music booms.
When we’re standing on the side of understanding, often we can see the first board or the first step on this bridge to the other side. But after that first step, it always seems like there’s a dense blanket of fog laying over it. So thick, that we can’t possible see to the other side, even though we know it’s there.
But here’s some good news; do you know what burns and dissipates the density of fog?!
Light and Motion
Have you noticed that when it’s really foggy out and you step through what seemed to be a forever cloud what ended up dissipating that fog? YOU. YOU are the thing that makes the fog dissolve.
You are Light IN Motion
The density will part and make way for you. The steps become clearer and as you continue to move forward they become clearer still. We don’t walk through this fog with the fear that there’s a black hole on the other side of it. We know that as we move through-it parts, things crystalize, and there was something on the other side of it all along. So how do we navigate this in a more ethereal and non-physical sense? What does it take to take the first step onto that bridge and continue forward? What does it take to leave certainty (understanding), move through the fog and approach action? To turn understanding into action?What do we think is in the fog? Or below us on the bridge? Are we fearful to fall? Into failure? Shame?
This is the zone under the bridge I like to call the:
Bog of Not Enoughs
In recent times I have realized that one of the keys to being able to step into that fog and work your way across that bridge is to understand and face what is in your Bog of Not Enoughs. Easier said than done of course; but this is meant to be continual exploration and refinement. There is no finish line here.
So how do we begin exploring our bogs? Well, you know I love to journal, so let’s bust that shit out!
Here are some journal prompts for you to begin exploring your bog; let’s put some names on the things in your bog. Let’s interact with the things in our bog; the thoughts, the feelings, the self talk.
What hangs out in your bog? What are you afraid of ‘falling into’ when moving from certainty to uncertainty?
In what ways do you feel like you are not enough? How do you measure your worth?
Do you lay your worthiness in things outside of yourself? If so, what are those things? Your looks? Your job? Money? Things?
How could you show up for yourself to shift your worthiness from external to internal worth?
What do you fear when it comes to stepping foot across that bridge? Failure? Shame? Impostor syndrome?
I hope that these questions help you dip a toe into what is in your Bog.
When you name the scary thing then its hard for the scary thing to have a hold over you. Let’s start naming the scary things. Name the things in your Bog.
If you feel called to share: what’s in your bog?