One of the hardest things we try to do is to describe to someone else exactly how we are feeling. One of the aims of practicing Action Inquiry is to become more aware of how we feel, in the moment, so that we can gauge whether we need to change something, do something different to get a different outcome. Skillful actions require a clear understanding of how you feel about what’s happening.
But before we can describe how we feel, we need to notice how we feel. It’s surprising how many people hurry through their busy days and never really notice how they feel. Until there’s something drastic, that is. When something drastic happens, we do notice how we feel, and it can be overwhelming. I think that overwhelm comes partly from not being very experienced in noticing how we feel, so when we notice it, it’s kind of surprising to us.
So, here is a practice designed to help us notice how we feel.
This exercise is from Bill Torbert’s 2004 book, Action Inquiry.
At home and at work (to the extent possible), set your watch alarm or cell phone to go off every 60 minutes. When it does this, take 30 seconds to notice how you felt mentally, emotionally, and physically at the moment the alarm went off (including any irritation that the alarm went off!).
The intention is for you to more quickly be able to identify how you feel in any given moment, to be able to describe to yourself how you felt. “I’m mentally stimulated, emotionally calm, but my left leg hurts behind the knee.” Just like that.
Try it for a week. You might want to let me know how you get on with it. Why not leave a comment.
Related reading:
- What is Action Inquiry? A brief overview of the intentions and terminology of Action Inquiry
- Notice how you feel – transitions. Notice how you feel when you stop one activity, and start the next one
- Notice how you feel – satisfying moments. Look back at satisfying moments, and unsatisfying moments