Crossing Action Steps with Focusing
I recently watched a video of Eugene Gendlin explaining how action can come out of Focusing (on Nada Lou’s YouTube page which is a great resource to hear from Gene).
In the video, Gene calls them action steps. He says that Focusing can give us the energy to take action steps. And that one way we can explicitly ask the body for an action step is after asking the body what it would feel like if things were different. For example, “What action would I take if my body were like that?”
I often use the wording I learned from David Rome: “What would be a right next step?”
However, sometimes we don’t get to action. Either because we’re so happy with the felt shift we’ve had connected to going deep inside, or because we are avoiding taking the action steps needed. In the video, Gendlin says “If you happen to be a person who’s been Focusing for a long time and your life has not changed, then I think I would like to tell you: don’t Focus. The hell with it! … find a link… to make those small action steps…By changing our habits we can change things that we cannot change in one day”.
In another video, he says he considered making action a seventh step. Others have built on this work. For example, there is a Folio article from 2008 about creating an action step as a seventh movement; and Robert Lee articulates many action questions in his Domain Focusing.
In particular, the Folio article by Atsmaout Perlstein, Ph.D. and Bilha Frolinger, M.A., says:
We have seen a whole set of new possibilities open up to the Focusers whenever they do a seventh movement, the Action Step. Once they choose the action step and make a verbal commitment to doing it the following week, they often experience new felt senses. It is through the body’s sense of meaning that a person can experience shifts and changes in relationship to an issue. By practicing one or more action steps in the external world, a new interactive process happens between the Focuser and the event — or another person. This interaction with the environment implies new different steps and new shifts.
I love this so much. My body knows that being in interaction with the environment is often what allows the next small step to come. I also love asking the body for our action steps, as I’ve seen over and over again that it comes up with such different ways forward. I know this as often the mind will try and sneak in with an answer when we ask the body for an action step. We can tell as the answer comes too quickly and feels familiar. In that case, we simply thank the mind for its suggestion, and then ask the body again.
One of the reasons I created by PUPA process was to put more emphasis on action. The A in the acronym is for action. It’s interesting to me that when ideas for action come from the body, they can feel like inspired action. They can really resonate with where we want to be. But sometimes it takes more steps to be ready to do the action. That’s why I added a third P for Prepare between Permutation (the felt shift that comes with a paradigm shift, in other words the action—or creative—idea) and the Action taking.
In butterflies, this preparation stage is when they exit the chrysalis: they must first dry their wings. They are not quite yet ready to fly, but flying is implied as there are wings now! A study from 2008 showed that some memory is retained through metamorphosis. I like to joke that a moth or butterfly before their first flight would be very scared. They might not believe they can fly, as they could not as a caterpillar. It can take some time to get used to the fact that we have changed. That we can now do things that were hard or impossible before.
I think we all go through stages where things are in process or preparation. Where the implying is known, is felt, but we are not quite ready for action yet. Other times, they are iterating. In Theory U, they call this stage crystallizing. We spend time prototyping ideas. Eventually, the performing solution arises and is then implemented broadly.
Whether you’re looking for ideas to take action on, preparing to take action on them, or ready for action, I wish you well on your journey!