What’s Driving Your Actions?

How do you tell what drives your action? For me, I break it down to the needs / values lying underneath all my actions. For instance, I woke up today, showered, ate breakfast and drove to Arlington to play bass at Unity Church. Looking at my actions, I showered to meet my need for beauty, cleanliness and it also gave me energy and alertness. I ate breakfast to meet my need for sustenance and energy.

Now let’s see, driving to Arlington to play bass at church. This meets needs for meaningful work, creativity, self-expression, friendship, connection (with me and others) and community.  It also meets need for inspiration, spirituality and fun.

So my actions are driven by the Needs / Values that are really important to me in the moment.

Now if I had gone to bed at two in the morning, then waking up might not have met my need for sleep (rest) and I might have had a harder time focusing on the values of getting up. However, in the midst of that, if I recognized the other values I wanted, it may have helped inspire me to get out of bed.

What are your actions and what values underlie them?   Is there a different action you can joyfully take that might work for you to meet that need?