Act, Feel, Think Communication Process
leap first, then feel, then figure out why it worked
Act, Feel, Think individuals use their body-centered wisdom to develop options and install new possibilities when they seek change. Their bodies act as their compass and they are even able to store information energetically in their body to later be accessed when specific movements occur. For example, an Act First tennis player would use their body’s knowing about where they are and how it functions to get the most out of any swing they make or action they take. When an individual is Feel Second, feelings and emotions are implanted with the thoughts, which guide their choices in the moment. In other words, a person would take action, desiring to have a certain feeling which would produce a certain behavioral expression. In this way, individuals can program their own response mechanisms by building both confidence and power in any particular activity. Successful behaviors are those patterns they wish to repeat and improve. Only when an individual is satisfied with the result of both sensations and feelings, do they actually attempt to intellectually clarify what they did and how they did it. For them, understanding is a booby prize, which distracts them from doing what works. For individuals with this sequence, they need to find their ability to consciously choose a particular action and feeling, so then they automatically manifest an optimum result. Despite what others believe, these individuals require very little thought to put very complicated processes in motion. It makes them great athletes, firefighters and emergency responders.
Act First individuals seek others who want to show them who they are and not spend a lot of time talking about it. When they are anxious about the connection (or actually the lack of it) they find themselves talking endlessly, which indicates they do not even want to be around. They tend to make decisions based on the sensations (or sometimes the reflected feelings they experience) being with another. As Act-First individuals, they trust their body wisdom and gut knowing when things are right. They can react immediately to what is needed without having to think about it. Since their tendency is not to trust what others say, they like to see demonstrations of the product performing what others say it can. How they develop an ability to make a decision is by experiencing as many possibilities as necessary for another to be confident that they are choosing the right thing. Therefore they seek individuals who can keep up with them. When this occurs, they develop a strong trust for this person, and that means they want to repeat this experience as much as possible. They deeply appreciate individuals who take the time and make the effort to understand their situation and are willing to demonstrate the reality of their connection.
Feel Second individuals are overly identified with their emotional reality. They can validate they are a Feel Second by the degree to which they protect their feelings from others over their thoughts or actions. They typically feel most vulnerable in their feelings and therefore attempt to keep others around them balanced so we will not end up at the effect of others. They seek others who have experience making the decisions they are being asked to make, creating a rapport and an understanding of the stress in the situation that can be emotionally calming for them. What they want the most is to be reassured that the choices they make are mainstream enough so that no one will be able to make them wrong. If their friends are anxious themselves, it creates a negative feedback loop where no matter what they say, they will not be able to engage the process. The more they are seen, the less it matters to them what others will say if they can be congruent.
As Think Last individuals, they enjoy retrospectives where they can consider how to improve or apply principles to grow or act more effectively or feel congruent. In this situation, their thinking process is primarily used to evaluate a certain course of action to determine if they want to engage it more. The more they reflect on whether a choice has served them, the easier it is for them to make this decision the next time. In this way they are always improving the way they make decisions so that each new decision is easier to make. What they need to recognize is that their wisdom becomes progressively clearer so they make the best decisions.
An Act, Feel, Think, who is a greatly misunderstood person in our U.S. society, relies on their body wisdom to initiate actions that they later evaluate in terms of the passion and joy they felt, so they can come to an intellectual assessment about whether it worked or not. Simply said, they learn by making mistakes and need to make the mistakes to learn.