Busy

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We are all busy.
Busy with jobs, with kids, with our families... Busy living our lives.

It is something that seems to be embedded in our culture. We need to be busy. With something. With anything. Because if we are not busy, something probably is wrong.

It is almost a backward way of looking at not only the things we do, but also why and how we do them. Because if being busy is the normal ~ then what happens when we find ourselves in some extraordinary circumstances? And how would we look upon not being busy? Or those that are not busy?

As ‘being busy’ has become the norm ~ not being busy is not a valued position. It implies that you are either not very important; or perhaps even lazy. Not being busy is not something that is being appreciated. And as we all want to be appreciated ~ we have a tendency to make sure we are busy. Even if we are just being busy running errands. Busy checking our email. Busy grocery shopping...
And when we would find ourselves in an extremely busy situation, we become just that ~ extremely busy. After all, it is likely to come with extreme appreciation...

The question then becomes; if we try to be always busy ~ for whatever the reason ~ what will give us rest and relaxation? Where will we find the point of balance to set off these times of being busy?
When will we take some time to smell the roses?

I sometimes wonder what would happen if I would approach the spiritual path with the same urge to be  busy? Somehow ‘I am busy meditating...’, or ‘I am busy being still...’ sound like a contradiction in terms.

So how do we fit a spiritual path into our busy lives?

It helps to have meetings with like-minded people as it is a lot easier to keep an appointment with others, than it is to make (and keep) an appointment with yourself.
Something else that can help is to take, say 20 minutes each day at the same time of the day to be still, meditate, (day)dream ~ to listen to the answers within. The things we know, yet don’t always allow to come to the surface.

Taking a mere 20 minutes a day out of our busy schedule can bring us many benefits.
It can provide us with an anchor for all the things we will be doing the rest of the day. It can allow us to step back from a situation we are in and observe it from a different perspective; a higher perspective that an expanded awareness can give us.
Those 20 minutes can give us that point of balance from which we can embark on the rest of our busy day...
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