DAY 9

“By Letting Go, it all gets Done” –– Lao Tzu

There is this thing in our life, and especially now at holiday time that looks like constant phone calls and emails, rush hour traffic, protein bars, and coffee to go. It looks like not calling loved ones back or reading the book that’s neglected on the nightstand while smartphones gets all the attention. It looks like pure exhaustion, and a candle burning at both ends. It’s a four letter word that I am doing my best not to utter when describing my day.

It is––B…U…S…Y

Our modern perspective is that busy-ness is admirable. It is no more admirable than marshmallows, graham crackers, and soda pop are healthy. Yet, we use the term liberally, as if to pat ourselves on the back for doing something good.

Here’s the catch. If we’re DOING something good, we FEEL good. We are energized, awake, tuned-in, turned on, light, happy, engaged, and at ease.

In contrast, like eating said ‘non-foods’ above, when we are “BUSY” we feel bad. We’re irritable, hasty, disconnected, unavailable, sick, tired, and drained. AND, we cannot accomplish all that we have the potential to achieve. Let me say that again…

WHEN WE ARE BUSY, WE CANNOT ACCOMPLISH ALL THAT WE HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO ACHIEVE.

I have used this phrasing intentionally to emphasize my intent in writing this message. Yes, often, if not most times we are busy, we are accomplishing a lot. We are crossing off the perpetual to-do list and perhaps reaping the rewards.

But, I’ve discovered the times when the best things have flowed into my life, the times when I stepped outside when everything was going right, the times when the money flowed and so did opportunities, were the times I created space.

Space to daydream. Space to journal, to breathe, to meditate, or go for a walk in the forest. Space to look up from my phone while waiting in line for coffee, and then being open to where a brief and casual conversation with the person beside me might lead.

Opportunities that feed my soul showed up when I began taking time each morning to meditate and read from my favorite books rather than leaping from bed to check email. They were made available to me when I committed to powering off my phone at 9pm to wind down in serenity rather than participating in a late night Pinterest-a-Thon.

You see, when we are constantly rushing from place to place, taking too much on and say yes, yes, yes! when we really should be saying no, we close ourselves off from infinite possibilities––those blessings and opportunities that come our way in between all of the activity and noise.

When we are busy, imprisoned by our self-generated pressure, we cannot receive inspiration for the next right thing to do. We are not open to the possibility of meeting someone at a café who could be a potential investor for a business venture we’ve been contemplating.

We are not attuned to impulses that may guide us to send a well-crafted email to just the right person, and at just the right time––that person having a network of colleagues that can help us get the job we’ve been hoping for.

When we are busy, we send emails without thought and then second-guess what we wrote, causing unnecessary mental fatigue. We experience compromised health because we don’t slow down long enough to intuit the fuel our bodies need, instead we eat those things that cause us to feel sluggish and less vital.

Yet, in the absence of self-generated pressure, we become still long enough to widen the gaps between tasks. We breathe into possibility and can catch a glimpse of what might really be best for us.

It would serve us well to shift our modern mindset from that of:

FORCED ENERGY = SUCCESS
TO
PERMISSIBLE REST RESULTS IN MAGICAL REWARDS

I am guilty as anyone for over using the word, busy AND for living up to its definition. Most of my adult years, I have genuinely been “busy” but I was the instigator––my pressure was self-generated and maintained.

Being busy is a choice. A choice that can keep us from truly having it all. Even saying things like “Oh, I’m so crazy busy right now” attracts more pressure. Instead, we might want to adopt more affirmative verbiage like, “There are a lot of really good things happening in my life right now.”  The more times we say the latter, the more ways in which it will become our reality.