Doing and Being.

I have had my share of situations come up that have caused me to rush about and try to do something, anything to make them better.

If only I could .....  When I get there I will.....If I just did......things will work out if I change......Next time I will do......

Doing.   It all gets back to whether I think that the actions I take have control over the sometimes unpleasant situations life seems to have.

Doing.   When my focus is on the future.  I see the past and regret it so I make changes to what I will do to the future and change that.

Doing.  I need to feel like I am doing something. I have to make an effect, I need to see something happening.

All these thoughts come to me when I feel that the business of life is overwhelming my peace.   My first reaction to this chaos and turmoil is to do something about it.   I have been trained to marshal my forces, to fight the fight, to struggle to make in my life what I desire.  

Am I missing the point?

My days are sometimes dominated by excessive activities.   I have been trained to think that I am not successful unless I have done something, finished something, or at least started something.   I am trained by society to see my own worth as being related to what I have done, what work I do, what work I have yet to do.   I find that I search after security by doing all I can to ensure that I can support the life that I am living.

There is nothing wrong with this.   No.  There is a time for action.  It is just that too much action, to many things pulling me to act means I loose my peace.   I find that I am harried, anxious, upset, driven, stressed.   When my actions are resisted or thwarted I get angry, frustrated, sad, depressed.   Some things I cannot solve; some security I cannot feel no matter what I do.  What good is doing then?

I found that I get to the point that I am so frustrated, so tired of always doing, that a breakthrough happens.  I have an overwhelming desire to stop the rat race and to just start being. 

Being.   This is the focus on the now.  Being means that I do not dwell on the past; nor do I dwell on the future.   I am in the now.   I realize that peace does not come from the planning for what may come, or the review of things before.   Peace comes from choosing to BE a peace.  

Being.   The eternal now.  Many authors have written about living and being in the now.  Why?   The now is the only time that we can change.   The now is the only time that really is.   Our past is made up of an infinite series of choices we made to be who we wish to be in the now.  The future is just guesswork as to what we will choose to be in the now.    

Let me say what Being brings to my life that Doing has never brought.

1. Being gives you more time than doing.  Being totally focused and present now allows you to

see more things you can do to be more effective and successful in living and working.

2. Being is easier than doing. To begin being, all you have to do is allow yourself to be that way. You don’t have to do anything, just relax and let go of something nonsensical that isn’t worth holding onto.

3. Being quiets the mind while Doing is noisy and distracting.   I have to think of all the consequences of doing, how to do, what to do, when to do it.  My mind can be filled with all the possibilities.  It gets noisy.  Being, my mind can relax.   It can be aware.  

 

4. Being is more fun. Doing is actually boring because you are missing out on the things that bring real joy and meaning to your heart. The nice surprise is that the more miserable you are from doing, the more content you can be in being. 

 

Doing and Being.   I can do that.    But I can be that even better.