Being vs. Doing

Hope ya'll had a nice long weekend, July 4th and all. Isn't it nice that we get a few of those long weekends during the year? I mean, nice of the government to give us an OK to take a day off, since we, as a country work longer hours and take less time of than almost any one else. Did you know that some countries actually require employers to give five weeks of vacation time a year? Makes the long weekend seem a little puny doesn't it? Then of course there is the thing about us being lucky to get a week or two off and the fact that many of us have jobs that do not provide any time off for vacations.

But hey, I was glad for a few days off, I've been way to rushed lately and I decided to slow things down a bit. I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, or if it's because we are quickly approaching 2012, the year the Mayan calendar says the big bang is going to happen again, and we will be right in the middle of it. They described a period of time leading up to 2012 as a time of great activity, a quickening of time. Hum, I do think quantum physics describes a phenomenon where time is indeed speeding up. What ever the cause, I just think I'm moving to fast. Trying to get to much done in too little time. So I took a breather.

For the entire weekend I held a moratorium on multi-tasking. I did just one thing at a time. That right there will slow you down. I did not write, work or watch Movies. I did read, but I had to, I'm addicted to books. I tried to focus on what I was doing, and just what I was doing, thinking of nothing else as I did some yard work and rode my bike. I was really getting mellow, that slow going one-thing-at-a-time pace. I took it a step farther and laid in the sun for a hour. Yes. Just laid there. I did not do anything but lay there listening to a CD. OK, I admit, I did roll over now and then and I did go get a glass of ice tea, but otherwise. Nada. Nothing.

I just wanted to spend some time being, rather than doing. I sat on the porch and watched the cats watch the birds. I made some meals and actually sat down to eat. I wandered up the river to the boat docks and watched the boats go by. I went to bed late and slept late. I was asking my self, if I lived by my own internal rhythm, what would it be?

We start off as babies, in that rhythm. Then someone decides we should be on a schedule and before you know it there is bottle time and nap time and we graduate to play date time and t-ball time and then it's time to get up and get on the bus for 13 years and don't forget time to do homework and time to go to ball practice and time for band. Then it's time to graduate and time to go to work and you are on your bosses time schedule for the next 30 years, or time to go to college for another 4,6 or 8 years of it's time to get up and go to class and time to take a test and time to study.

When the heck are we supposed to have time just to be us? When do we get to just be, rather than do, do, do? I think it's getting worse, because I talk with a lot of people in a lot of different jobs and life situations and none of them seem to have time to do anything. They are just to busy to squeeze in a sneeze. They are so busy rushing from one task to the next, they can't turn around. I have to ask myself, is some of this busy-ness manufactured just to keep them from slowing down enough to realize they never really get a vacation?

So I challenged myself to spend the long weekend being rather than doing. I just be-d.
I took my time and tried to be mindful of each thing that I did, paying attention to what I was (not what I was doing, but what I was) at that moment. I got relaxed. I slowed down. I saw the breeze rustling the tree leaves about and noticed the sunlight glinting off the rocks in the driveway. I watched the butterfly bouncing from flower to flower. I was finding my rhythm. My rhythm was a lot slower than the rate I normally travel. My rhythm is more like coconut fronds blowing in a slow south pacific breeze, more like the rate of erosion of the Grand Canyon. I really could be happy living life at a much slower pace. Maybe we all could.

I decided that I would benefit from a few changes in my busy life. I decided to continue with a partial moratorium on multi-tasking. I will only multi-task when it's necessary for work, rather than doing it all the time. I have the time to do most tasks individually, independently and with my full attention. I decided I will schedule some time each day just to sit for 30 minutes, being, not doing, because it really is OK to spend a few minutes a day just being. Just being and being aware that you are just being. I do have the time for this. I decided I will reserve my weekends as often as possible, just to be. I do not have to schedule things when I'm not involved with work tasks. I do not have to fill my free time with things to do. I can leave it empty and just see what my being becomes.

My challenge for you, if you wish to accept, is to spend just two days being and find your own rhythm. Just sit and watch your mind run in circles until it's exhausted and sits down. Sleep as long as you like and lay in bed stretching before you get up. Linger over your breakfast, with a nothing-to-do attitude. Just take your own sweet time about everything you do all weekend. Then ask yourself, what is my rhythm? What is my own time?