Being Is The New Doing

Contributor: Tish Morris
Photographer: Saffron & Sage

In our fast-paced society, we are constantly going, going, going and doing, doing, doing. It can be confusing and uncomfortable when your typical efforts just leave you spinning your wheels. Suddenly, the usual distractions aren’t distracting enough and you are forced to slow down and look inward.

Our culture thrives on busy-ness, which is rooted in our collective effort to prove our worthy-ness. We’ve been taught that just Being (despite the fact that we are human beings) isn’t good enough. We have to perform, work hard, jump through hoops, or anything else that was a condition for receiving encouragement, attention, or love in childhood. As a result, our actions are performed upon approval, that is, proving we are good enough.

We can’t believe that just being is enough and so we work ourselves into a frenzy of striving, succeeding, pleasing, and overachieving. We attempt to measure or justify our worthiness through our actions. The problem is that we can never DO enough to feel GOOD ENOUGH. It’s an empty bucket and will therefore never be enough.

Not pretty enough.

Not rich enough.

Not smart enough.

Not talented enough.

Not just-about-anything-you-can-think-of enough.

Think about whether you could be good enough without putting on makeup, without volunteering, without making a difference in the world, without having children, without making dinner, without going to work, without looking good on Facebook?

In our attempt to DO good enough, we fall into another trap: We believe the only way to deserve the things we have and really want are performance-based. If I work hard enough, I deserve a nice house. If I do x, y, and z for my spouse, then I deserve love in return.

Consider whether you deserve the good things in your life just by being you? Or, are they a result of the hard work you’ve put in to get them? Either answer is correct depending on what you believe to be true. You are deserving of love and abundance simply by being you. No circus acts required. No guilt and shame needed. You deserve it all just by being here.

I’m not proposing we all become couch potatoes. Instead, the key is when you take action, do it from a place of inspired action. Inspired action comes from an intuitive, soul-directed knowing. It doesn’t always make sense. And sometimes takes courage. But over time it will become your new normal.

Anything less will only give you conditional, short-term gratification, at best, to fill the empty bucket of unworthiness. Not to mention, leave you feeling exhausted. Taking inspired action, unconditional upon the reason or outcome, will leave you feeling expanded.

Are you doing something to prove your worth, or are you doing it because your soul is truly calling you to do it? The current planetary alignment is forcing us to learn this. Doing things the old way will lead you down a road of speed bumps, detours, and dead ends. Inspired action will lead to instantaneous manifestations.

Next time you find yourself feeling overextended, take a moment and think about what aspect of your worthiness you are trying to prove. Can you instead love yourself by just being? I know I’m trying. Your Beingness is good enough for me and I have a feeling mine is good enough for you.