
What we do matters little compared to who we are. Our culture is built the other way around. The focus is on what we do. In this way, we lose awareness of ourselves as we too focus on what we are doing or what we will do next.
How would the world and we be different if before we decided what to do in our life or even today, that we decided how we wanted to be? Would our choices, perspective and decisions be different or would we simply experience ourselves in a new way as we went about doing?
Because our world is upside down, we know a lot about what we do or judge ourselves about what we are not doing. The focus on doing is relentless. The more we focus this way, the more we lose ourselves, get off our path, find ourselves disappointed in one aspect of our lives or another or experience dis-ease. All this because doing comes before being. And awareness of how we are being may never come to mind.
How might things be different if we took the time to stop doing, to stop thinking and took our attention off everything and everyone? We would be left with the mystery of ourselves. Quietly bringing our attention onto ourselves may be a new experience but one worth having.
It begins with placing our attention on ourselves to see how we are doing. We might notice how we feel, what‘s on our mind, what’s in our space and how our body is doing. Noticing how we are doing is a great first step, but it is not yet about how you are being.
Notice if you can stop doing long enough to find yourself. Often we are so lost in doing that we cannot stop. The idea of getting quiet is beyond our comprehension. Trying to get quiet feels harder than doing. It may take some self-discipline to stop doing and be with yourself.
If you were able to stop, get quiet and notice how you are doing, that is a great first step but there is more. Stay quiet with yourself and notice how you are being. Noticing how you are being is a quieter, deeper level of awareness. It is knowing who you are at your core and how you are experiencing yourself in the world. It is not esoteric. It is real.
The more often we stop and decide how to be, the more our lives and what we do in the world comes into alignment with who we are. Decisions can be made from that perspective. Actions come from how you want to be in the world.
Coming from the perspective of how you are being may mean changing what you do in a big or little ways, or it may simply mean deciding how you want to be as you live the life you have already created.
Give it a try. Start each day deciding how you want to be before you decide what you will do. Notice what changes. We may find that we move away from things that do not serve us and into new ways of experiencing ourselves. Enjoy.