Life is a swirl of activity. We have endless to-do lists and checklists, but after all we do and accomplish where is the time to be still, to just be? This post provides six ways we can go from doing to being:
1. Walk in nature
A stroll on the beach or in a park can help quiet a restless mind. Our ego forces upon us endless drama. But a quiet stroll in nature can help restore perspective and reconnect us back to our essence. As we witness the quiet wonder of an unfolding sunset our daily concerns suddenly seem to dwarf in comparison. The joy of simply being bursts into our consciousness and for a few quiet moments we taste the eternal.
2. Do Yoga
A well-balanced practice of yoga can help silence our worries and allows us to just experience the silent joy of being! On the yoga mat restlessness ends and stillness prevails. The world dissolves to a standstill and for a few quiet moments the eternal shines forth.
3. Meditate
Caught in the whirlpool of thoughts we spend our lives trapped in our minds. When we meditate we slowly learn that we are not our thoughts. As the separation between our thoughts and us grows we learn to surf the stillness between thoughts. It slowly dawns on us that our essence resides within this stillness and there is great joy to just be.
4. Pray
Prayer may start as a conversation or a plea. But at its heart prayer is an unconditional surrender. It is the complete letting go of our worries and concerns and placing them at the doorstep of the divine. As our surrender deepens the quietness within grows. Every action becomes a prayer as the ego melts away. It is important to set aside time and a place for prayer and slowly build up a practice of quiet communion with the divine.
5. Get into the flow
Sometimes we stumble into a state of concentration and focus where time stops. When we come out of this state we realize that many hours have passed. To our utter amazement we find that we have accomplished a lot in this state. Our deepest insights and our best work happen here. From the outside it may seem that we are in a swirl of activity, but from within we are in a state of complete focus and unity. There is no ego, no worry, and nothing to prove, just a connection with a quiet stillness within. Learning to focus without being attached to the outcome allows us to get into this state.
6. Serve
Selfless service is something that we do quietly without fuss or drama, and with no intention to draw attention to ourselves. We do it spontaneously and humbly and within it we find great joy, love, and connection. It is the result of being able to reside in the quietness within. Selfless service allows us to turn a tedious job into a calling. It allows us to make a living while doing our most fulfilling work.
It is not as if we can suddenly decide to magically switch completely into a state of continuous being. However there is a conscious choice that has to be made and this choice has to constantly be renewed. Each of the six ways mentioned in this article support each other and so you want to take up as many as possible. The journey into being is a journey into finding joy, wholeness, and fulfillment. Why would we waste a single moment pursuing anything else?
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Credits:This has been written by Raj Shah and edited by Ketna Shah.