Are You Better at DOing or BEing?
How to Find Balance
Having worked in Corporate America for 30+ years, I’ve got the Doing piece down rather well. If something needs to get done, I tend to “Just Do It.” (Thanks Nike!)
My challenge is to BE more. The first time I had a coach recommend that I take 10 minutes a day and sit out in nature and DO nothing….just BE, I about came out of my skin. I got the point and I’m still “getting” it. I’m out of balance on the Doing side. When I was doing Bikram Yoga, the most challenging pose for me what Corpse Pose. Relaxing, meditating, having fun, enjoying my mountain hikes without my cell phone attached to my body are recognized but challenging for me.
Do you think you’re better at Doing or Being?
Here’s the thing. One is not better than the other. Both are necessary to your whole health. Your ability to Do is your masculine energy. The energy that goes out into the world and gets things accomplished. Our ability to Be is our feminine energy, the energy that nurtures, receives intuitive guidance, allows us to go inward.
If you’re out of balance on either side of these, then your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to try the opposite.
If you’re better at the doing part, then your challenge is to BE more with things like…sitting for 10 minutes and DO nothing. Meditate for 3-5 minutes, practicing presence but paying attention to your breath or noticing your thoughts float by.
This can feel so incredibly uncomfortable at first but with practice you can get better at it, like learning any new skill.
If you’re better at Being then your challenge is to practice Doing activities. Spend 10 minutes on an activity that requires you to write copy, or take photographs, or make a video, call someone you’ve been procrastinating calling, put yourself out in the world more fully.
Anything that stretches outside your comfort zone is sure to get your attention and lets you know that balance is needed in this area.
I notice that so many of us are hard on ourselves. We judge ourselves first and in turn judge others. I can catch myself walking in a store behind someone whose taking their time and walking slowly and my impatience can kick in and I’m reeling. It takes practice to remind myself that I could learn something from them.
The same is true for my friends that are better at being. They’ll tell me they get around someone like me and feel their head starts to spin because I’m like the Tasmanian Devil whirling around them. I’m a flurry of activity and they just want to go take a nap.
Whichever one you lean more towards, the challenge is to practice the opposite and I mean practice because it’s like learning a new language and if you give yourself the space to try the opposite for even 5-10 minutes daily that can go a long way towards achieving more balance.
The other part of this is to embrace the upside qualities of both aspects and remember you’re a work in progress.
Here’s to Finding More Balance!
Marti