The "Rightness" of Not Doing

Sometimes, it’s ok to simply “be” and not have to “do”.

Our culture isn’t set up that way, for the most part. We are a people of “doing”, not a people comfortable with the simple “being” of life. And I suspect it’s not just an American thing; Shakespeare aside (“To be or not to be, that is the question”), the struggle for balance between the demands of always doing with the gentler art of “being” has likely plagued mankind for millennia.

But this week? I’m going to “be” and not “do”.

I’ve been reading a lot lately; studying, exploring new philosophies, streams of thought, ways of thinking. My books and blogs have branched into new paths of discovery, and my mind races with the possibilities, the unveiling of different ways of thinking, of seeing, of experiencing this amazing world. There is so much to explore that I find myself unable to choose just one topic, one subject, one place to sit and think, no single place to explore. I started on three different topics for this week’s blog; one nearly completed but not quite right, and two others in embryonic form that need more incubation, more attention, more love. I wasn’t ready to publish yesterday, and so I allowed myself to delay a day. No more than day, right?

Not so much. This morning, I started reading a new book, a new course of study, a new author - and my brain again went into hyper-drive: so many thoughts, images, perceptions! I was mentally racing around trying to grab a bit of this and that, trying to cobble together some semblance of a rational blog post to meet today’s deadline.

And then. Sanity returned (and I hope with it a bit of wisdom).

I realized it was ok not to publish this week [1], not to “do”, but to simply “be”; to sit with these precious newborn thoughts and discoveries (new to me, but likely part of a greater, ancient truth and reality); to ponder them, savor them, feel them and enjoy the freshness of them. As I sat, quietly praying and thinking, I realized that it was ok to simply “be” today. It was acceptable to not “do”, but rather, to sit and think and relish the new thoughts; to turn them over and appreciate their newness, allowing the deeper revelations to simply saturate my mind and my heart. And to leave it at that. At least for today. For this week.

So that’s what I’m doing.

And I’m thinking you may be in a similar place, a place of needing to “do”; to keep to a schedule, maintain a routine - whether self-imposed or generated from the outside.

Perhaps, we all need permission once in awhile to simply “be”; to acknowledge that it is right and good to not do, but only to be.

So today, I would encourage you to do more “being” and less “doing”. As much as you can. It is good and right to simply “be” sometimes. For in the end, it makes the “doing” that much stronger, wiser, better.

[1] The irony of my publishing a blog post on “not publishing this week” is not lost on me. That’s ok; I can live with the irony. I hope you can, too!