Eckhart Tolle, The Dream Party™, and Your Next Inspired Action

I am excited to share an article I wrote entitled: Eckhart Tolle, The Dream Party™, and Your Next Inspired Action. This and numerous other inspiring articles can be found in the Aug/Sept issue of aspire... Magazine. Pick up your complimentary copy today!

Eckhart Tolle, The Dream Party™, and Your Next Inspired Action
by, Tara Sage Steeves

"Future success is dependent upon and inseparable from the consciousness out of which the actions emanate." ~ Eckhart Tolle

I was one of the thousands of people tuned into Oprah's online classroom with Eckhart Tolle, author of A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose. I found his concise and graceful way with words downright riveting. I often read and re-read sentences while allowing them to resonated deep into my being. I was especially struck by what he refers to in the very last chapter as the three modules for awakened doing: acceptance, enjoyment and enthusiasm. He writes, "If you can neither enjoy or bring acceptance to what you do - stop." It would indeed be a new earth if everyone were to live by those words.

What Eckhart calls Awakened Doing, I regularly refer to as Inspired Action. He defines it as "the alignment of your outer purpose (what you do) with your inner purpose (awakening and staying awake)." As a Dream Realization Coach, I often express the importance of pinpointing one's next inspired action as the central focus to the realization of any dream.

In his explanation of these modalities, I noticed his formula says nothing of logic, scarcity, or practicality when determining one's course of action. There seems to be an understanding that when you act from a place of acceptance, enjoyment and/or enthusiasm, what you need will be provided.

This has shown itself to be true in my life, time and time again. For example, in the summer of 2005, I decided to go on a 10-day trip to connect with some friends for an art festival in Nevada. My business was under one year old at the time, and thanks to also being a "landlordess," I managed to squeak by on the combined monthly income. From a bookkeeping perspective, this trip was a bad idea. In addition to the expense of the trip itself, without Internet or phone access for the full ten days, all business would be on hold. Against all logic, I decided to follow a strange certainty that this was my next inspired action.

What transpired during my travels was transformative, joyful, challenging, cathartic, and profoundly heart opening. I immersed myself in the experience and when the time came to return home to Rhode Island, I did so happily, savoring the heart-space I was in.

Once home, however, things changed quickly and dramatically. I found myself crying in parking lots simply because they were parking lots, claustrophobic in cars and even my own living room, acutely aware of the sadness of strangers passing by, and in attempts to describe the experience to friends, I used phrases like "I feel suffocated," "I've expanded," and "I no longer fit my life." When weeks passed and these symptoms showed no signs of letting up, I knew something had to change, and I all but decided to sell my house and buy a one-way ticket anywhere to begin a nomadic lifestyle. Frustrated, I professed, "There just aren't enough places to dream here!" Friends who had been trying to persuade me to stay, reluctantly surrendered to my deep need for change and instead offered to help me pack. I had narrowed my options down to two choices, fight or flight...either create what I longed for, or travel the world looking for it.

The Dream Party™ was born over the next 48 hours, thankfully faster than I could pack! I was awakened in the night by "ideas" and was at the kitchen table writing them down within minutes. The Party was "an excuse for me to stay," I said. While I suspected that others felt a need for such an event, I was admittedly doing it because I needed it. My efforts paid off when over 100 people attended the first Dream Party™, and thank you's and testimonials flowed. Based on the success of two Rhode Island Dream Parties, and the 3rd annual Dream Party™ coming up on October 3, 2008, more people are exposed to it every day.

The moral of this story is... While you may not know where your next inspired action will lead, you are wise to trust that when action is taken in the spirit of sincere acceptance, enjoyment and/or enthusiasm, it is sure to manifest in ways that serve yourself as well as the greater good. Born out of acceptance, enjoyment and enthusiasm, The Dream Party™ has given me many gifts. I never could have predicted that going on an out-of-budget vacation would inspire a way to grow my business while supporting the pursuits of numerous other brave dreamers!

What awakened action will you take today that reflects acceptance, enjoyment and/or enthusiasm? What's your next inspired action?

Tara Sage Steeves is founder of The Dream Party™, a playful and powerful opportunity to embody your dreams and goals while exploring next steps towards their manifestation. The 3rd annual Dream Party™ will be held on Friday, October 3, 2008 at Edgewood Yacht Club in Cranston, RI. Tickets are on sale now at www.createyourlifeinc.com. Aspire Magazine is a proud sponsor of The Dream Party™.