There’s sometimes signals none of us know how to interpret or react to, things that will teach us about ourselves;
Here are the 10 Action Signals outlined in Awaken The Giant Within:
- Discomfort
This is also known as boredom, impatient, unease, distress, or mild embarrassment.
Message: Discomfort is a GOOD THING because it is your subconscious telling you that you can be more. The message is, you need to either change your perception or change your actions.
Solution:
a) Use the Emotional Triad to change your state.
b) Clarify what you do want.
c) Refine your actions. Try a different approach and see if you can immediately change the way you're feeling about the situation, and/or change the quality of results you're producing.
- Fear
This is also known as low levels of concern, intense worry, anxiety, fright, and terror.
Message: The anticipation that something thats going to happen soon needs to be prepared for. This is good, as it gives you massive energy to prepare.
Solution:
a) Review what you're feeling fearful about and evaluate what you must do to prepare yourself mentally. Figure out what actions you need to take to deal with the situation in the best possible way.
b) To antidote your fear, make the decision to have faith. Know that you've done all you can to prepare, and understand that very few fears in life ever come to fruition.
- Hurt
Also known as a sense of loss or having an expectation not met.
Message: We have expectations that has not been met. Or, there's been a loss of intimacy or trust. This is good, because it shows you have a big heart and care about your life.
Solution:
a) Realize that in reality you may not have lost anything. Maybe what you need to lose is the false perception that this person is trying to wound or hurt you.
b) Re-evaluate the situation. Is there really loss here? Or am I judging this situation too soon, or too harshly?
c) Elegantly and appropriately communicate your feeling of loss to the person involved? For example, “The other day when x-y-z happened, I misinterpreted it to mean that you didn't care, and I have a sense of loss. Can you clarify for me what really happened?”
- Anger
Also known as resentful, furious, enraged, or irritated.
Message: An important rule or standard that you hold for your life has been violated by someone else, or maybe by you. This is good, as it gives you a passion and fire for you to make things right.
Solution:
a) Realize you may have misinterpreted the situation completely. Maybe the person breaking your rules don't realize how important it is to you.
b) Realize that even if a person did violate one of your standards, your rules are not necessarily the “right” rules.
c) Ask more empowering questions: “In the long run, is it true that this person really cares about me?”, “What can I learn from this?”, “How can I communicate the importance of these standards I hold myself to this person in a way that causes them to want to help me and not violate my standards again in the future?”
- Frustration
Message: This is an exciting signal. It means your brain belives you could be doing better than you currently are. The solution is within range, but what you're currently doing isn't working, and you need to change your approach. This signal is telling you to be more flexible in your approach.
Solution:
a) Realize frustration is your friend. Brainstorm ways to get a result. How can you flex your approach?
b) Get input on how to deal with the situation. Find a role model, someone who has found a way to get what you want.
c) Get fascinated by what you can learn that could help you handle this challenge not only today, but in the future.
- Disappointment
Also known as being let down, sad or defeated.
Message: An expectation you have had is probably not going to happen, so it's time to change your expectations to make them more appropriate for this situation, take action to set and achieve a new goal immediately. This is good as it shows the depth of the caring you have and the high standards your set.
Solution:
a) Immediately figure out what you can learn from the situation that could help you achieve teh very thing you're after in the first place.
b) Set a new goal, something that will be even more inspiring, and something you can make immediate progress toward.
c) Realize you may be judging too soon. Often it's just a temporary challenge. Remember, “God's delays are not God's denials.” You may just be in “lag time”, or have unrealistic expectations.
d) Realize the situation isn't over yet and develop more patience. Re-evaluate what you want and develop a more effective plan.
e) Cultivate an attitude of positive expectancy about what will happen in the future, regardless of what occurred in the past.
- Guilt
Also known as remorse or regret.
Message: Tells you that you've violated one of your own highest standards and must do something immediately to ensure you're not going to violate that standard again. This is a good, because it's your internal compass for doing what you believe to be right.
Solution:
a) Acknowledge that you have violated a critical standard you have for yourself.
b) Absolutely commit yourself to make sure this behaviour will never happen again in the future.
c) Rehearse in your mind how, if you could live it again, you could deal with the same situation you feel guilty about in a way that is consistent with your own highest personal standards. Utilize guilt to drive you to hold yourself to a higher standard in the future.
- Inadequacy
Also known as unworthiness, anytime we feel we can't do something we should be able to do.
Message: That you don't presently have a level of skill necessary for the task at hand. You need more information, understanding, strategies, tools, or confidence. This is good because it moves you to learn, grow and contribute to others.
Solution:
a) Ask yourself, “Is this really an appropriate emotion for me to feel in this situation?” “Am I really inadequate, or do I need to change my perception?” If so, then you need to find a way to do something better than you've done before.
b) Appreciate the encouragement to improve. Understand you don't need to be perfect. You can begin to feel adequate by commiting to constant and never-ending improvement.
c) Find a role model – get coaching from them.
- Overload Or Overwhelm
Also known as grief, depression and helplessness.
Message: Re-evaluate whats most important to you in this situation. May have unrealistic expectations of trying to deal with too many things at once, or trying to change things overnight. Grief happens when you feel like there's no empowering meaning, or your life is being negatively impacted by people, events, or forces that are outside of your control.
Solution:
a) Decide what the most important thing to focus on is.
b) Write down all the important things and put them in a list of priority.
c) Tackle the first thing on your list, continue to take action until mastered it.
d) Start focusing on what you can control. Realize there must be an empowering meaning.
- Loneliness
Also known as feeling alone, apart, or separate.
Message: Need to connect with people. This is good because it shows your love of people.
Solution:
a) Realize you can reach out and make a connection immediately and end the loneliness. There are caring people everywhere.
b) Identify what kind of connection you need.
c) Remind yourself that whats really great about being lonely means, “I really care about people, and I love to be with them. I need to find out what kind of connection I need with somebody right now, and then take an action immediately to make it happen.”
d) Reach out and connect.
There you have it. Those are the 10 Action Signals, the message behind them, and the solution to master them.
The quality of your life is the quality of the emotions you consistently feel.