That’s often how it is set up: either-or. One is either in the process of being or doing.
During check-in at the beginning of a recent meeting, I became aware of the busyness of my doing – constantly moving from one thing to another. As my awareness deepened, I was aware of the poverty of this mode. I expressed the desire to do from my being.
Most people would probably say that both modes are important. Without doing, nothing would get done. Doing relates to past, present and future through a veil of concepts. Being, on the other hand, is characterized by direct, immediate and intimate experience of the present. It brings a richness, depth, and texture to life that only doing cannot provide.
Too much doing without being lacks grounding and purpose. It becomes frenetic and reactive. Doing’s thirst is never quenched. Being without doing can lead to narcissism and psychosis at its worst, and a lot of dirty laundry and dishes at best. Most of us are more comfortable with operating mostly in doing mode, with breaks for being mode.
Being/doing is a false binary – in the sense that we do not need to choose one or the other. When our doing emerges from being, it has a different quality to it.
Rather than thinking of being as a break from doing, start with being and use it as a foundation for your doing. When being and doing collaborate instead of compete, life is better.
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