Be – Ing         A few thoughts on doing just that!

 

We spend our lives rushing here there and everywhere. Planning what's coming up, worrying about things in the future, looking forward to events, parties, meetings. Either that, or we are always looking back. Comparing what happened way back then, with what might happen next. Dreaming of days gone by, or being stuck in memories, scared of change.

 

How often do you savour the feel of warm water on your skin when you take your morning shower? How often do you really smell and taste that first cup of coffee or tea when you get up? How many times in the day do you stop, breathe, really breathe and take stock of where you are and who you are?

 

And that brings the question, Who are you?

Do you define yourself by your job or business. Are you a mother, father, child, sister, brother? Are you a wife, husband, partner? Are you single, looking for that elusive partner?

 

As humans we spend an awful lot of our time doing.................rather than being as our title suggests we should.

 

Of course doing is not all bad. If it were not for doing we would just sit around and wait for things to happen. Even allowing yourself to be, takes some doing!

 

Just this evening, I've been travelling around London on various trains and tubes. I got hopelessly lost and enjoyed the delights of part of the Docklands Light Railway in both directions! I'm pleased to say, there was another woman who did the same thing and actually voiced her concern by asking a disinterested packed train, “where on earth is there a tube station on this line?”

I just slipped off the train and looked at the map! I was going to suggest she follow me, but that might have been worse for her as I was not sure where I was going and was just enjoying the ride!

My plan was to get home at a reasonable hour and take half an hour for just being, before getting on with plans for tomorrow. My delayed journey meant that got curtailed. However, I did take some time at Liverpool Street Station to put some thought into the way I was standing and to allow myself to breathe. I had 25 minutes of just being. Standing in a busy station, letting the world pass by and not engaging with it except to acknowledge that I was there. I was aware of my body, aware of the sounds, sights, smells even. And yet not engaging, or getting involved with it all.

 

Now I'm not professing to be a marvellous expert at meditating in any situation. I did get quite irritate and upset with myself this morning whilst driving in to London and passing Aldgate station about 5 times from many different directions and routes. The reasons for that would lead to a whole other missive about manifestation and thoughts……..We'll leave that for another time.

 

My point is to say that although in a perfect world I would be sitting cross legged for hours at a time, in a quiet place with no distractions and nothing pressing to get on with. (How easy would that be to just be?) It is possible to allow yourself to just be for little snippets during the day. Time for mindfulness when you catch yourself stressing, worrying, planning, moaning!!

Just bring your awareness (a great word) to the present moment and breathe. Look around you, see where you are, not necessarily engaging with anything in particular. Take your mind to something unusual in the moment, something you perhaps wouldn't have seen, heard, smelt or felt if you had continued in your rushing, planning, stressing etc.

 

Reading this now, how are you sitting or standing? Are you aware of your feet on the floor, in your shoes, socks or barefoot? Are you aware of your bottom on the seat, your back against the seat?  How do your clothes (if you are wearing any!) feel against your body? And take a breath. Breathe, fully and deeply right into the fullness of your lungs.

 

That, is the beginning to being. It takes practice, it takes commitment, it takes intention. The more you do all of those things the more you will be able to live in the moment. Like I say, that doesn't mean not thinking ahead and planning or enjoying nice memories. It means you can enjoy the moment. Live the moment and create even more enjoyable memories and you'll find that it will be even easier to plan and do because you are not always rushing ahead of yourself.

 

See how many times from now on in the day you can actually notice being in the moment. Be mindful of the day, rain drops on the window. The colour of the new shoots coming on the trees, or the turning of the trees if you are in a different hemisphere to me. The cloud formations.

Be mindful of your body, how you sit or stand. Is that the most comfortable position? Be aware (that word again) of what you are doing to your internal organs by the way you are standing or sitting.

 

I would like to bring your attention in this moment (!) to a workshop in Ware on the 15th April. It's called Be – Ing, moving from a human doing to a human being. For a couple of hours on that Friday evening, in the beautiful Aware (keeps coming up) Yoga Studio, with fun and a certain light heartedness, we will explore ways to just be.

It will be a time for you to try something new, expand your awareness and take away some tools to help you experience simply being more often.

 

It's £20 or if you email or call me to let me know you are coming it's only £15