I would like to invite you to pause for a moment and reflect on this.
What does it mean to be?
To be is not something that you achieve.
It's not a goal you cross off a list.
To be is simply that.
A presence.
A here-ness.
As real and immediate as the sound of my voice reaching you right now or the feeling of your breath as it moves through your body.
It is the beingness of being.
The quality.
Steady awareness of yourself in this moment before the world demands anything from you.
Now what about doing?
Doing is action.
It's movement.
It's the outward expression of energy.
A bird builds a nest.
A river carves the land.
The sun warms the earth.
But the bird never stops being a bird just because it's busy building.
It does not question if it's enough.
It simply is.
We humans though have entangled doing with our worth.
From childhood we're asked did you do your chores?
Did you finish your homework?
We are not just praised for being.
We're praised for doing.
For saying thank you for cleaning your plate.
For performing the role of a good child.
But imagine if we were raised instead to be cherished for just being and not doing.
What if from an early age you were taught that you are enough.
Not for what you do.
For who you are.
Not for achieving but for you.
There would be no fear of not doing enough.
No constant striving for validation.
No chasing the next accomplishment just to prove yourself.
Instead we would simply be children.
We would be teenagers.
We would be adults.
We would be human.
There's a softness to being.
But tell me does your mind chase doing?
Do you fill every quiet space with task?
Every moment of stillness with movement?
It's a paradox isn't it?
We need to do to live.
Yet in our doing we often run away from simply being.
Like a tree that forgets its roots while it's reaching for the Sun.
Like a river so eager to flow forward that it forgets the stillness of its source.
Like a bird so busy building its nest that it forgets that it's meant to fly.
But what if we could do and be at the same time?
What if we could wash the dishes and feel the warmth of the water?
Or walk through the day and stay aware of the ground beneath our feet?
Speak to another person and remember the presence behind our words.
The birds building because it's a bird.
The river flows because it's a river.
What do you do that pulls you away from your being?
And what might you change if you brought the fullness of yourself into everything that you do?
If you did,
You may find something magical.
You may find who you are.
Because the quality of your being is a reflection of how deeply you have accepted who you are.
And the more you chase doing to define yourself,
The further you run away from the peace of your own being.
So today let yourself be like the bird.
Building,
Moving,
Creating,
But never forgetting the sky you were meant to fly in.
