Welcome to this meditation on the balance of being and doing.
How do we live as fully human beings?
Becoming lost in endless doing.
How do we avoid using spiritual practice as an escape from the responsibilities and opportunities of ordinary life?
Mindfulness invites us into a balance,
Cultivating presence and then allowing that presence to inform wise action.
So let's begin.
Taking a comfortable posture.
Not too tight.
And not too loose.
Letting the body settle.
You could allow the eyes to close gently or simply soften the gaze.
Whatever is more comfortable for you.
Take a breath in.
And allow it out.
And then feel your body supported by the earth.
And soften.
And let go.
Lack of achieving.
Let go of fixing.
Let go of getting to the next place,
Arriving here.
And allow the breath to move naturally.
Giving yourself permission to unplug from the busyness of the day.
Whether that day is behind you.
Or in front of you.
In the words of Annie Lamott.
Almost everything will work again.
If you unplug it for a few minutes.
Including you.
So give yourself that permission to unplug.
To simply be.
It seems that many of us know what it feels to live as a human doing.
We measure our worth by our productivity.
Our accomplishments,
We check things off the list.
We stay busy.
For doing.
We're striving.
We're becoming.
And yet,
Beneath all that activity,
There is this breath.
This body.
This moment.
Truly nothing's missing.
Nothing extra is required.
Just this.
Ram Dass reminded us,
The quieter you become,
The more you can hear.
So in.
This time ahead.
Allow ourselves.
To become quiet.
And in that quiet.
See if you can listen.
No forcing.
No striving.
Simply.
Listening.
And what are you listening to?
The body.
The breath.
A heart.
Listening to life itself.
Remembering that mindfulness is not meant to be an escape from life.
It's not meant to be withdrawal from life.
It's a path.
A way of living with wise understanding.
Wise intention.
Wise speech,
And wise action.
It's a path of compassionate participation in this world.
It's a balance.
Can you feel that balance of being,
Being here now?
So that you can do what is yours to do.
And practice,
While so,
So important,
Is not the destination.
Practice is the preparation to live fully.
And gracefully in this life.
Right here and right now.
Meditation is not separate from life.
And the stillness we cultivate.
And teach us how to act.
So let's sit together.
Feeling the body.
Relaxing the body.
Letting softness and grace and flow.
Be who you are in this moment.
Allow yourself to breathe.
Take a breath in.
Release it gently.
Listening to the call.
From within.
On what that right next step is.
And perhaps asking yourself.
Gently.
Easily.
Where have I become lost in doing?
Where do I mistake busyness?
For a deeper meaning.
Where am I exhausted from trying so hard?
Can I give myself permission?
To simply be.
Here.
NOW!
Before.
I launch into the activity of my life.
Our world may tell us that our value comes from outside of us,
From what we produce.
And yet.
.
.
Our practice reminds us that our worth need not be earned.
Our worth is inherent.
We belong because we are here.
Just breathe into those words.
Let your breath move through the body.
Circular breath circulating up through the feet,
Through the body,
Through the head.
Again and again.
We belong simply because we are here.
So let's practice.
Not to become worthy.
To remember,
We already are worthy.
Letting ourselves find the present moment.
It sounds simple,
Yet not easy.
Our mind wants to run back to yesterday or jump ahead to tomorrow.
Yet our life is here.
In this breath.
In this body,
In this moment.
End.
Presence alone is not the whole story.
The world needs our kindness.
The world needs our compassion.
Our voices,
And our service.
So consider that awakening.
Not only happens in silence.
Awakening also happens in relationships,
In relationships with others,
With nature,
With the planet.
In listening deeply,
Deeply.
And forgiving.
In the simple act of cooking dinner.
Or caring for others.
Practice.
Helps us find.
Or aliveness in ordinary life.
We are.
So that we can do,
We find the sense of being so that we can balance it.
The activity.
That feeds our souls,
That feeds the planet.
The shower.
Wholeheartedly.
And we show up.
With less grasping.
Less fear,
And less striving.
Perhaps the question isn't,
Am I a human being or a human doing?
Perhaps that's too simple,
Because we are both.
We're human beings.
Who do?
So invite something gentler.
And my doing arise from being.
And my action arise from presence.
Can my service arise from love?
And my words arise from wisdom.
So feel yourself held.
By life itself.
Perhaps bringing into your mind's eye one recent small act of goodness.
Not grand.
Not heroic.
A small kindness.
That wants to move through you.
Trusting.
Whatever arises.
Allowing.
A sense of not knowing.
And as we prepare to complete our time together.
May we learn to rest when rest is needed.
May we learn to act when action is called for.
They are doing arise from being.
May our speech arise from wisdom.
May our service arise from love.
And may our hearts remain open to all of it.
And may whatever goodness has arisen here for you today.
Be of benefit to all beings everywhere.
So slowly take this time.
Come back.
To the room,
You can flutter your eyes open.
Thank you for your practice.
May you take it out.
Into the rest of your day or evening.
