Do you have prompts you don’t follow? Those fleeting thoughts that invade your conscious mind and cause you to take a moment to pause. What do you do with those thoughts, what do you do in those moments? Do you take action? Do you write them down? Or do you push them to the side, rationalizing why those thoughts are not important at this time. Do you ignore those prompts as “silly” or “unnecessary”? Do you listen and learn from them?
What if we took action on all the prompts we had?
We may not want to take action on all the prompts we have within a day. Those we may get in a fit of anger probably aren’t ones that are good to take action on. But those aren’t the ones I’m talking about. You know the ones. The ones that linger and almost haunt you until you decisively either do something or consciously push it to the side.
The one that always comes up for me, and the one I rarely take seriously is the one to contact someone I care about. They quickly enter my thoughts invading whatever I was currently doing, and linger. How is grandma? Haven’t spoken to her in a while? I really should take the time to call.
What do I do with that prompt?
Typically, I acknowledge that it is a good idea and add it to the BOTTOM of my already way too long to do list. For the moment, my mind is free again from this lingering thought, this internal prompt that tells me it is important to connect with this person in my life. Why it is important to connect is not clear at this time. Sometimes, I don’t ever know why that prompt came…others it is pretty apparent. Have you experienced this?
I often think, as my ego takes control of the interpretation, that it is something I need or it will benefit me in some way. If my mind can’t immediately see how following the prompt will benefit ME, and immediately at that, I can easily cast it aside and go about my daily business.
What if we started to interpret these prompts as a guide for how we can impact the world. How we could benefit others by being in their lives. When I look at my prompt to call my grandmother from this perspective, it takes on a completely different meaning and a different priority. When I take a moment to look at the prompt as a way to help someone else instead of myself, all of a sudden it takes on a greater priority on my ever lengthening to do list.
When I follow through on the prompt, I may find everything to be fine. I may not get an immediate sense that the prompting was urgent. However, chances are that the call lifted my grandmother’s spirits and filled her heart with some amount of joy.
What joy can you bring to your life from following a prompt that invades your daily routine? What benefit do you bring those around you by following through on a prompt as simple as reconnecting? How does following through impact you?
Consider following through on the prompts you have today to reach out to someone. What did you learn? Feel free to share your experiences here so we can all learn from each other.