Improvement Through Awakened Doing

One decision changes your entire reality

Published: Thursday, March 16, 2017 - 12:03

There are a lot of good quality tools and improvement processes out there for when you are not engaged and productivity wanes. But until you find the root cause of your behavior, any improvement won’t be sustained.

I read about the three modalities of awakened doing in Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth (Penguin Group, 2006), and I realized they could be applied at work. The modalities of awakened doing are acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm.

Acceptance

“Acceptance means: For now, this is what this situation, this moment, requires me to do, and so I do it willingly,” writes Eckhart. “If you can neither enjoy or bring acceptance to what you do—stop. Otherwise you are not taking responsibility for the only thing you can really take responsibility for, which also happens to be one thing that really matters: your state of consciousness.”

Enjoyment

“What is the relationship between something that you do and the state of joy?” Eckhart asks. “You will enjoy any activity in which you are fully present, any activity that is not just a means to an end. When you make the present moment, instead of the past or future, the focal point of your life, your ability to enjoy what you do—and with it the quality of your life—increases dramatically.”

Enthusiasm

“Enthusiasm means there is a deep enjoyment in what you do plus the added element of a goal or a vision that you work toward,” he says. “When you add a goal to the enjoyment of what you do, the energy field or vibrational frequency changes.

“Whenever you are engaged in activities that you find tedious or stressful, be absolutely present in what you do.... Be friendly toward the present moment. Welcome it no matter in what disguise it comes, and soon you will see the results. Life becomes friendly toward you; people become helpful, circumstances cooperative. One decision changes your entire reality. But that one decision you have to make again and again until it becomes natural to live in such a way.”

For me, awakened doing, especially acceptance, bridges the gap to where I can even begin to use productivity tools like personal kanban and 5S. You have to want to change, or you’re just spinning your wheels making the gap bigger.

If you’re stuck and can’t even step toward acceptance, put your attention on breathing. Take three breaths; feel your chest expand, and exhale completely. Breathing with awareness interrupts the voice in your head and provides the opportunity to change your reality by making a different decision.

About The Author

Laurel Thoennes @ Quality Digest

Laurel Thoennes is an editor at Quality Digest. She has worked in the media industry for 33 years at newspapers, magazines, and UC Davis—the past 25 years with Quality Digest.