In our daily life, we easily forget the essence of life. Our mind is constantly busy solving problems and planning activities. Having a job, being a responsible parent, taking care of friendships, all these are activities our mind is busy with day in and out.
Not saying it's a bad thing. It's necessary. But with our mind being constantly busy, our body reacts and makes us feel overwhelmed down to getting sick if we don't notice the signs and take regular breaks.
Of course we're trying to go on holidays and taking time off whenever we can afford it. But I bet you know the feeling when you're back into your day 2 day life. After a couple of days, you feel as if holidays never happened.
Surely, our society doesn't allow enough time off in most of the cases. I mean, what are 24 days a year? Or even 30 if you're lucky. Ok, but that's something we cannot control at the source. We can decide on changing our life, profession into something that suits more our needs. This is up to everyone to decide whatever is best for him or her.
There is something, however, everyone can do to have an immediate impact on his or her wellbeing. And that's becoming conscious that the essence of life is "Being", not "Doing".
Doing shall be something we execute while we "are". But this only can be if we sense we "are".
With all the examples above, we're all time busy with "doing" something. And yes, we have to for most of it. That's not the problem. But we easily lose awareness that we "are", while we're doing something, and that we still will "be" if we stop doing.
I always was restless, even when I tried to relax. My mind was always looking for things to do.
So I did meditation to calm down my mind. But even here, I was "doing" meditation. I forced myself to sit down and to calm down my mind while focusing on my breath. Not saying you should not meditate. It's a great tool to train yourself to become conscious and keep your focus on what's here and now. Just to say that sometimes, we're "doing" even the things we think we do to be present, like meditation.
Since the age of TV and cinema, people trying to distract from the busy mind watching movies. Nowadays with the internet and social medias, there is even more distraction available.
It surely is enjoyable and there's nothing bad with it if you're aware and if you're using it consciously. But that's rarely the case.
All these distractions not only distract us from our busy mind but also from the essence of life. Which is "being".
Now what is "being". How shall we be while "being". Our mind will have a hard time to understand, since there's nothing to do :)
But let's practice it. All it takes is to think about "being" whenever you feel overwhelmed.
Take some time, ideally sit down somewhere outside and just do nothing.
Notice your being with all of your senses. Listen, Smell, Hear, Feel and See whatever is within and around you.
If you notice thoughts coming in. Let them be as well! Trying to ignore them or to push them away would be "doing" :)
Instead, observe them. Be aware of the thoughts coming in and go.
Sit there and just be present with all of your senses for as long as you wish. If you feel the urge to "do" something. Like standing up and move. Then do.
Do not force yourself "being". Because that would be "doing" anyway. On top you'd feel frustration since you failed doing nothing.
Just repeat this whenever you feel overwhelmed. Repeating it while you feel great will even be more effective, since you'd be open to "being" and you get much easier into it.
Enjoy the moment
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