March 2020 It’s Not how many Breaths you take. It’s the moments that take your breath away!!!
Click on the photo to hear the song.
Just like the 1965 song by the Byrds “Turn Turn Turn” has a message so do we all.
How are you expressing your message?
It’s not how many Breaths you take but the moments that take your breath away.
DOING And NON-DOING are polar opposites.
Does it have to be one or the other?
Can we find our worth and value in all the ways?
JUST BEING fits in, through and around both DOING and NON-DOING.
So why does JUST BEING allude so many of us?
DOING
For some of us (author included), we find our value and worth in accomplishments. There is nothing wrong with that. Setting our sights on something that thrills us and working towards that takes courage, perseverance and dedication to a cause. It enlivens us! However, what if that locomotion is just a habit and it is hiding a part of the “self” from ourselves that has remained in the shadows. What if this unnoticed part of us is an aspect of undiscovered divinity. What if the discomfort is simply a calling card aka a messenger into greater depths of ourselves.
We could say “So what!” but it is my belief that we come into physical human form to experience LOVE (which is not an emotion but an action….by the way, meditation is an action), GROW AND CREATE not necessarily experienced in that order.
Perhaps there is a part of us that desires a deeper kind of intimacy. A kind of intimacy that can only be found within oneself. Perhaps a pathway to our core essence is to luxuriate in stillness and non doing. At times (it’s not all or nothing), that pathway requires a kind of surrender that is brutally uncomfortable ( at least for me).
My perception of surrender is an incredibly vulnerable state. What if the experience of surrendering was reframed? Perhaps it is more like back floating on a raft in a pristine, still lake where we embrace the sky mirroring the lake’s placidity while we are securely supported and held in the midst of it all.
NON DOING
For others, NON DOING is a vehicle by which they find self-love regardless of any achievements.
This is equally brave, courageous and requires solid footing extricating other people’s opinions of their inactivity. However, what if that non doing is not actually self-acceptance but an avoidance technique to hide, pacify, and cover up our fullest expression. Could it be a fear of exposing ourselves in the world? Another way to protect ourselves from feeling uncomfortable? Is change just too frustrating? Do we want to feel confident and experience our excellence without the inherent challenge? Is it even possible to have one without the other is a dimension of duality?
JUST BEING
Can we come to a place in our lives where we are in deep contemplation of our worth and value through the art of simply existing ?
YES YES YES
For me , a state of JUST BEING is simply a practice kind of like a yoga class…its not good or bad, it just IS. That’s why they call it a “practice.”
Over and over, we come back to noticing where we are in the moment and remind ourselves that we are whole and complete. Always turning towards something that seems new but is actually a continuous aspect of our original nature! It is connecting to the realization that we are an inherent miracle. Essentially, there is nothing that is required of us to love ourselves unconditionally and be in full self-acceptance. We are who we are. NO apologies. Just authenticity.
So which is it?
I say BOTH! DOING, NON-DOING AND JUST BEING!
How do we strike a balance in a world of constant manufactured change. I believe the balance comes from connecting with the eternal aspect of us that is unchanging i.e. the inherent witness. Nobody is immune from creating balance for themselves on a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level.
Outward manifested change comes from a deeply organic place within us. It’s slow, deliberate and long lasting but those minuscule shifts move mountains and opens us up to awestruck moments. Something clicks and many of the core past beliefs dissolve. All that practice meant something because what matters to us (where we place our focus and attention) eventually turns from energy to physical matter. We are molding ourselves from the energy that pours into us and casting it out on the planet before us.
Where does our breath fit into this DOING, NON-DOING AND JUST BEING TRIAD?
We never really think about how many breaths we take in our life time. Sure, scientists might explore how many breaths a person takes in an hour or day;however, I don’t believe that the common individual considers that as significant.
We do notice what takes our breath away. That happens when we are “tuned in”, “dialed down into slow motion”, ” deeply connected”, “fully feeling”, “receivership” or in a state of “allowing”. It’s when we least expect it. We don’t “try” to be in awe. It just happens effortlessly when we are not looking. It’s usually something unexpected and draws us closer to our heart center. What takes our breath away are the moments that truly matter. They hold significance and resonate at the level of miracle consciousness.That everything is perfect, absolutely perfect exactly how it is unfolding. It’s the experience of that mysterious phenomenon that is more than ourselves that we have absolutely no control over.
It’s the moments when we connect deeply to the fragility of life, know how precious we are, appreciate that our senses allow us to perceive such beauty that we individually did not conceive but collectively, we had a hand in creating.
It’s the instant where we fall in awe of Mama Gaia’s natural beauty and how magnificent nature is just as she is. Imagine that, the earth, the wind, the seas, the animals, the foliage, the heat, the cold, the stars, the moons and planets etc all never in need of us “humans” to do anything.
Actually, we would open to new understandings if we communed with them so that a heightened sense of communication might be restored as in the time of our greatest ancestors.
MINDFULNESS PRACTICE
Close your eyes.
Play the song TURN TURN TURN by the Byrds daily for 21 days.
Notice your “reaction”to the lyrics.
Journal and witness your shifts from the inside out.
2015-2020 © Darryn Silver all rights reserved
