The Courage to Act

You have the vision, the data to back it up, and a plan.

Yet you sit at your desk, staring at the screen, unable to hit send.

Unable to make the call. Unable to say yes - or no.

Or maybe it's a smaller, relatively minor decision. Spending more time than you'd like deciding what to wear. Or choosing a menu item. You consistently hesitate to reply to texts.

You tell yourself you're gathering more information.

Maybe you are. But there's a difference between gathering and stalling.

Gathering feels open. It feels curious. You're learning something new. You're seeing a path you didn't see before. Your breath is easy. Your shoulders are down.

Stalling feels sticky. You're reading the same email for the tenth time. You're Googling the same question you already know the answer to. Your breath is shallow. Your jaw is tight.

The sensations you’re observing are the signals.

In Chinese medical Five Elements, the Wood element is a partnership between two organ systems: the Liver and the Gallbladder.

The Liver has many functions, and one in particular is to hold your vision for your life. You see the forest, the big picture.

The Gallbladder function are also many including being the ‘decider’. The courage to walk the path the Liver has mapped. It’s the acting on the vision.

When these two are in harmony, you move with purpose. You see clearly, and you act decisively. You keep to your vision, act accordingly and are unswayed by others.

When they fall out of sync, you may notice decisions are harder to make, the vision is unclear or keeps shifting.

I’m grossly oversimplifying here, but for this conversation, be thinking about your vision and how you make decisions - with ease or with avoidance?

If the Liver is strong but the Gallbladder is weak, you have a leader with a map but no legs. You have a dreamer who never builds. You spend hours planning, strategizing, and optimizing, but you never take the first step. The vision becomes a burden.

If the Gallbladder is strong but the Liver is weak, you have action without direction. You jump from one project to the next, burning energy but going nowhere. You act on impulse, not vision.

This isn't a character flaw, and acting on inspired impulse is always the way to go. You know the difference-acting without vision takes more energy

The Gallbladder stores the decision. It holds the resolve. When this energy is blocked, you feel the weight of the choice before you even make it. You feel the tightness in the ribs. You breath is shallow.

And it shows up in the small things, too.

Ever had difficulty deciding what to eat? Or, deciding which item to start with on your to-do list? Challenged by choosing an outfit, and equally challenging choosing a strategy?

A blockage-yet different subjects.

This is life as a chess game. Understanding the vision, and then making strategic moves toward it.

The question isn't always "Do I have enough info?" The question is "What do I observe or notice about my body while I'm at a decision point?"

If you feel curious, you're gathering.

Standard advice tells you to trust your gut. It tells you to visualize the outcome.

Yes, all true!

But sometimes that advice misses the nuance.

If you feel stagnant, or your gut feels like a knot, your visualization feels like a fantasy.

You don't need more motivation. You need to move the energy.

And, the hesitation you feel isn't always a sign that you're making the wrong choice.

Permission doesn't come from the mind. It comes from the body.

Don't wait for the fear to go away. Fear's part of the process. It's the friction of growth.

Don't wait for the perfect moment. It doesn't exist.

Don't wait for the perfect plan. It doesn't exist.

Make a decision.

If you miss your mark, you learn. If it moves you toward your vision, you grow.

But if you don't make the decision, you stay exactly where you are.

Your body knows the answer. The hesitation is the pointer.