DO LESS

Be more, right inside the doing

Photo of chickens running by Jan Kraus on Unsplash

Here’s what I’m not saying. I’m not saying BE more and DO less.

That’s an old construct that was nice to talk about when we first thought to bring the concept of being front and center. (That is so way yesterday!) And maybe no one had dared think in terms of doing less as something sane and good because we were just all about efficiency and cramming in more.

It’s truer to say that being & doing go together. Be vs. Do is an example of a binary, which is always ultimately a false construct. In fact, if you’re doing, you’re being, and if you’re being, you’re doing. They are inextricable one from the other.

So don’t be versus do. Be fully. Be in the fullness of all that you are. Do fully. Do with all your caring and creative verve, and opt in fully wherever you opt in. Be present in body, mind, and heart to what you’re doing. (That is, make it your doing to come back to being.)

Do nothing just to get through it. Do everything because this is your beautiful life and this is the thing to do right now in support of your beautiful life, and all its beautiful parts.

• Do the dishes that way
• Do conversations that way, even with customer service
• Do lovemaking and even hugs that way
• Do walking that way, whether moving away from or moving toward
• Do creative brainstorming that way
• Do work tasks that way
• Do dancing that way
• Do connecting to nature that way
• Do all connecting and dropping in with another and bouncing energies back and forth that way

If you’re being while doing, you’re inhabiting this moment and opting in fully to what you’re doing. You’re here, in presence. You’re inhabiting the body. You’re connected to breath. (Or, again, just coming back. Keep coming back.)

So why did I title this DO LESS?

When you’re doing without being, you’re doing unconsciously.  You’ve literally withdrawn your consciousness from the doing. You’re in autopilot. You’re just doing the thing to do it and check it off the list. You might actually do less (or do more things one at a time, with a more one-pointed focus) in order to marry doing & being together in the most beautiful way.

So here are some things you might consider playing with, more or less:

• Multitask less.
• Put your phone down more.
• Ruminate way less.
• Come back to the breath way more.
• Do less while talking and listening.
• Go outside more.
• Do less figuring.
• Tell yourself way more often you don’t have to figure it out right now.
• Do less staying with thoughts & feelings that feel bad.
• Do more interrupting of what feels off, early & often.
• Do less because you think you have to do it or someone will be disappointed or this is the way you always do it or [fill in your own old bullshit concept that still gets you]
• Do more because it feels good, it makes you laugh, it’s kind, it brings you to this precious moment here & no
• Watch squirrels more, run with the chickens more, look up at the sky more

THESE TWO PARAGRAPHS ARE FOR MILDLY-BUT-TENACIOUSLY ADDICTED ADDICTS. (Oh, yeah. That’s everybody.)

Do the things you feel divided about in a single focus and opt in fully. (Eating, smoking, drinking, playing the game, watching whatever …) What do you keep telling yourself you should quit or do less of or do differently? Start by giving it your full permission and full opt-in and full presence as you do it.

Example: go sit outside and smoke, and do nothing else. Experience it, because you’re not NOT smoking, so SMOKE. Don’t be divided. If you’re not ready to quit, drop in for real. Do it while being, while being present to alllllllll that comes in for you as you do it, including pleasure, self-disapproval, old voices, your own guidance system. Witness it all. Get present to it. Your experience will shift.

The best (and EASIEST) way to marry together doing and being is to come back to presence, often, in anything you’re doing. Inhabit your body (drop in consciously and feel it, ground it). Inhabit the breath (take MANY moments to feel what breathing feels like right now). (Stay with that for at least a full breath cycle.)

Let every moment and your whole being and life be fuller and more conscious. Do less. Do more while being. Appreciate this beautiful life and the fullness of all that you are.

Love & blessings, Jaya