Why are you so busy?

March 29, 2015

Why are you so busy?

You say that you are.

You say that you have really busy days and you use it as an excuse quite often.

Did you ever want to be this busy?

When did you think that being so busy was such a great thing?

When did you think that being so busy would mean that you are successful ?

You accomplish tasks. These tasks are done with great haste. You simply want to complete the task and just be over with it. You don't bother to be in total attention of the task at hand. When the tasks are complete then you check them off your list and get a small and impermanent illusory sense of fulfillment.

Ah! On to the next task then!

I must convince myself that being busy in a day makes me successful and that every success will contribute to a greater and more purposeful success!

Hooray !

In reality, being present is real success. Being present does not beg to get "something" done or act as means to an end. I should state that the term real success is rather annoying and is ultimately irrelevant. Success is an invented concept and can be distraction from inner purpose and alignment with the present. Success is how we define it.

Success can be a delicious sandwich created with great attention and flow.

Success can be a long walk in the park. You feel relaxed and accomplished when you reach the end don't you? Isn't that post exercise feel so exhilarating. Would it be crazy to think that the walk itself was a great success.

Success can also be paying the bills on time and cleaning the dishes. The important part is the attention you bring to each task or challenge. The mere failure of a task does not negate success.

The attempt at a task with full attention without the thought of "finishing" it is success in itself.

So are you asking yourself why you are so busy still?

We all have things that we need to do. We all have to do our laundry and feed ourselves. Some of us have more responsibilities than others. When we are busy for the sake of being busy then we are certainly wasting our time. If we focus on moment to moment without the thought of worrying or simply enduring a task to get from point a to point b, then we are certainly making the best use of our time and the concept of "busy" does not rule us in our intentions.

Business is of the

Mind.

The mind wants you to be busy. It wants you to be awash in a cycle of busy thoughts and tasks. It is fueled by the constant flow of unconscious and conscious thoughts. It wants you to do it's bidding! So you may be busy because your mind is controlling you. The mind says, "How many things can I do today to fill up my day and what things can I do that will make me accomplished at the end of the day." When you don't meet the illusory expectations of the mind, you feel like your day has been a waste and you rocket into ridiculous states of guilt and exhaustion. You become a hamster on the wheel simply fulfilling your egoic tendencies.

Take a breath! Notice what is happening around you in the outside world.

Ask:

Am I just being busy for the sake of being busy right now?

Am I only busy because I "think" that I should be busy?

Am I conscious of when I tell people that I am busy?

Make time.

Be conscious.

Be present.

If you are measuring your success to other peoples' success then you are falling in a dumb trap. Comparing or quantifying how much you got done in a day, a week or a month only creates suffering. It is a creation of the ego.

It spirals you into the illusion of "I should be doing more."

You are simply distracting yourself from the abundance around you. If you are going to be "busy", be busy with conviction. Be in the flow of attention and the unnecessary sense of mind controlled business will fade and weed itself out.

With your attention, what needs to get done will get done. What you want to get done will get done and be integrated within the dance of moment to moment spreading from a day to a lifetime with awareness.