Mary O’Malley – I invite you for a few moments to let go of reading this blog and simply rest here. Let go of past and future; let go of all the stories in your head and simply be.
Did you find this difficult? Most people do. We live in a world of busyness, always trying to get to a so-called better place. Have you ever seen one of those videos of a downtown street where they fast forward the images of people and cars? It looks like an overly frenetic anthill. If you could have a video of your mind, you would see that it lives on fast-forward a lot of the time too – doing, doing, doing.
All this doing comes from a voice inside urging us to do more, to accomplish more, to do better, to be better. The crazy thing about living this way is it is addictive but it’s not sustainable. It’s like the thrill of hydroplaning in a boat but one day you run out of gas and the nose of the boat dives down into the water as you crash. In other words, in the end, all our busyness doesn’t add much to our lives.
What is the antidote to this craziness of doing life rather than being life? It’s slowing down! “No,” says the mind that is addicted to doing. “I won’t get anything done! I’ll fall behind. Everybody will become accomplished except me and besides, it’s scary to slow down.” But research has now shown that giving yourself moments of simply being is not only truly nourishing but it actually makes you more efficient!
How can that be? There is something you miss when you live exclusively in the doing mode and that is the vast and nourishing stillness that is always here, underneath all your busyness. That stillness is filled with the wisdom and intelligence of life. Einstein shared that his greatest revelations didn’t come from his mind. They came from a space beyond his mind, which he could access when he was quiet. In other words, you become more creative the more you simply rest in being!
Living exclusively in the doing mode also cuts you off from a nourishing, sustaining love affair with life. This kind of love only reveals itself when you slow down enough to discover how to bring your attention to life as it is in this moment where birds are singing, your breath is rising and falling, the taste of a peach surprises you, the sound of the wind touches you deeply and the beauty of a flower moves you.
Mostly people don’t access the profound wonderfulness of the simplest of things unless the onward rush to get to the so-called better place is interrupted by a major accident or a terminal diagnosis. Stephen Levine talks about a woman he worked with who, when she had terminal cancer, stopped taking the gift of life for granted. Rather than dying she went into remission and as the wonder of it all became dulled again, she grieved the time when her imminent death allowed her to recognize how precious every moment is.
So, you don’t have to wait until your death bed to discover how to move beyond the addiction to busyness and simply open to the intelligence and wonder of life here and now. It is as simple as giving yourself a few minutes every day where your attention is fully here with life exactly as it is right now. It could be listening to the music of your life as all sorts of sounds appear and disappear. It could be really tasting your morning bagel or experiencing the joy of water cascading over you in your morning shower… really experiencing it.
Of course, the doing mind will capture your attention quite quickly again for you have been caught in your thoughts for most of your life. But cultivating just a few moments every day, where you actually experience life rather than thinking about it, helps you to see there is life and then there are your stories about life. And the more you actually make direct contact with life, you see that your thoughts about life pale in comparison to the real thing.
So, I invite you, just for this moment, to let go of trying to get anyplace else and just rest here. To ground yourself here, use the sounds that are rising and passing away all around you and within. As you listen, really listen, know you are making direct contact with life. Even a few moments such as these sprinkled throughout your day will change the trajectory of your life.
I leave you with one of my favorite turns of phrase from Thich Nhat Hanh, the beloved Buddhist monk and author:
Instead of saying, “Don’t just sit there. Do something!” he says, “Don’t do something. Sit there!”
If this calls to you, we invite you to become a part of Mary’s interactive online course, What’s in Your Way is the Way beginning on September 25th. The price is marked down $100 until Sept. 16th. For more information about the course, Click Here
SF Source Mary O’Malley Aug 2019