Human Being vs Human Doing

As I was sitting with a new friend a couple weeks ago, she made an interesting comment about Americans being Human Doers rather than Human Beings. She grew up in Europe and we were discussing the differences and she was sharing how much she missed the relaxed nature of European life compared to the United States when she first came here many years ago. This conversation left an indelible mark on me for the last couple of weeks and I have revisited it several times contemplating this concept of Human Doing and Human Being. As many of you know several years ago now I took 2 years off from working and while my family was away during the day I dove deep into my own spiritual practices, spending hours a day in meditation, prayer & contemplation. This time was magical and after years and years of struggle with my own inner demons I finally broke through into what the Yogis call Self-Realization. During this time I was steeped in the most beautiful loving relationship with God and I was ready to give up who I thought I was as a teacher and a healer. I was just BEING every day. At the time I released all desires and all expectations for my life and surrendered it all to the Divine Universal Presence and didn’t have a plan to ever go back to the working life that I had known.

Spirit had different plans for me however and slowly as I began to emerge from this time of deep peace in my life people and situations began to come to me that I could not deny were there for a Divine Purpose. This time however as I began to “work” again I approached it all very differently. I remembered to pause and to breathe and to ask for guidance and direction. I began to operate my life from a completely differently place…from a place of surrendered trust. At first as I stepped back into life I still held this deep sense of peace within my heart with very little effort; over time however as my work grew and more and more people were becoming apart of my everyday I had to once again work at finding that peace. The mind, once very quiet and tame, came back to life full force and was ready to move back into DOING rather than BEING.

This is the work that I have stepped into now on the journey, remembering the BEING during the DOING. As I worked with clients recently it became very clear why I am now traveling this path and implementing the practices into this busier life that I once again have. Very few people have the opportunity to just stop and spend hours a day on spiritual practices. I understood this blessing I was given and I looked upon the spiritual work that I was doing very seriously. Because of that seriousness and intensity I left myself no choice, as I gave it all up Spirit stepped in, strengthened me and showed me TRUTH and LOVE. To have this opportunity while living as a mother and wife gave me a completely new view of this life and what is possible. There feels a certain sense of responsibility to share after an experience such as this and to show others the way, I have learned this is a false sense of responsibility as everyone is on their own journey and the way of being is doing your own work and allowing the human being to shine forth. You cannot tell another person how to live or what is true you can only be. You can only live your own life and know your own truth and allow yourself to be open and loving to the journey of others. It is recognizing each person as a Spiritual Being having a Human Experience and trusting their journey is exactly what it is meant to be in any given moment. This is living from Surrendered Trust. This is understanding the perfection of the Divine Universal Presence that is each one of us.

When you awaken to true peace and contentment and live in a state of being, you are acutely aware when the doing begins to take over. You feel completely out of alignment and confusion begins to take center stage in the mind. This is when the practices that we learn from Yoga are our lifeline. The practice of breath control, the practice of mindfulness, the practice of slowing down and feeling once again that all is well and whatever stories of worry or anxiety or fear are simply creations of the mind. These are lifelong practices as the mind is one of doing and the spirit is one of being. I have personally experienced both sides of this human doing and human being and I believe that there is a beautiful balance of both that we are able to achieve with awareness, practice, patience and grace. I will never say the journey is easy, I always come back to the simplicity of the practice and the power of the community holding one another during our times of suffering and helping us to remember our own truth of being. As always I stand with you within my own heart practicing each and every day along with you as this Human BEING.