The unpracticed art of “being”

I think people easily forget that we are human-BEINGS. With the pace of people’s lives I see all-around me, I would naturally think we are human-DOINGS.

The other day I was getting my hair “maintained”. After sharing my story of living on a remote island off the coast of Honduras and co-founding a nonprofit to help children at the public school get an education, the hair dresser pointedly asked, “Well, what’s your purpose living back here now?”.

Uh…that’s a deep one!

I hesitated for a few seconds and cringed at the thought of being vulnerable. I usually sugarcoat my answers to “purpose” questions so that people will not be uncomfortable with my answers. You see, this is a sickness I’ve had for most of my life: people-pleasing. But that conversation is for a later post:)

Anyway, I was afraid of giving an answer because I thought for sure this woman would judge me and not understand what I was talking about. In those few seconds of hesitation, I decided to care-less about what she was going to think about me after I answered, and I just answered without filtering.

I said, “You know, I’m not a planner. I don’t plan out my life. I concentrate on living day-to-day. I’d rather focus on “being” than “doing”. As I focus on being, the doing comes and I feel more complete and open to whatever comes my way. My purpose is to be who I’m supposed to be and out of that the doing will be a natural outflow of my journey. ”

Many will argue that you have to plan some things so that you are prepared for the future. What about health insurance? What about savings? What about ______? Fill in the blank. There are a shit-ton of things to think about the future. I’m not ignorant of all of this. Practicing “being” does not mean that I sit on a beach somewhere and stare out into the deep blue and never raise my hand to do.

However, I refuse to let these temporal, earthly responsibilities take up the focus of my life!

I want to BE love.

I want to BE present.

I want to BE patient.

I want to BE faithful.

I want to BE joy.

I want to BE enduring.

I want to BE generosity.

I want to BE peace.

I want to BE forgiveness.

I want to BE kind.

I want to BE hope.

I want to BE gentleness.

I want to BE faithful.

I want to BE goodness.

I want to BE.

I have spent 38 years of my life striving to “do” to be the best person I can. I am realizing that until I slow down and focus on “being” all those characteristics I long for, than it’s all for performance-sake and it will not penetrate to the core of who I am.