In workshops I generally spend some time talking about the difference between doing and being. We often become so focused on doing that our being alive is a mere after-thought. In the future, I may just use this picture to show the difference.
These turtles are hanging out on a snag in the fresh water pond at High Island Sanctuary. They are not really doing anything. They are “being” in the sun on a warm Fall day. They are being together. They are being present to a moment that Paul Tillich called, “The Eternal Now.” They are “being” alive, not “doing” alive.
How much of our days are filled with doing life? In our Western, goal-centered, “git-r-dun” society we rise from our beds and begin doing our lives. We follow an internal checklist and do the things we need to accomplish in order to have the things we desire. Doing grows out of desire. Doing grows out of yearning for something more. Doing demands that we focus on the not yet in order to transform it into the already.
Doing is important to life! However, doing is not the same as living. Doing propels us forward and speed sup our internal sense of time. In fact, when we are bored and try to cope with the impatience of waiting we engage in some sort of doing. In the process of doing we miss out on a lot of time simply living.
Being means focusing on the already, hanging out with ourselves and others in life. It is the opposite of the Purpose-driven Life. Being means slowing down tour pace so that we can become aware of and appreciate the warmth of the sun on a cool Fall day . It means walking through the woods and letting our mind drift from the sound of the birds to the scent of falling leaves to the reality that our best friend is at our side.
Being means we are allowing every moment to expand and become an eternity of experiences. We do not do it to relax. We are not doing it for what may happen.. We are not doing anything. We are being alive, just hanging out with ourselves and those around us! Find your snag in the middle of a pond and hang out with your friends. There will be time enough for doing. Make time for being alive!
Bob