You know how there are moments in your life that stand out – even years later – as pivotal moments, life-changing moments, waking-up moments? I experienced one several years ago while on the phone with a friend.

I was feeling frazzled, overworked, overwhelmed, and pretty much just over it all.

I had spent years and years of accomplishing and achieving and going, going, going. And I was burned out. I wondered what the point of it all was.

I felt like a rabbit moving quickly from one carrot to another. Except the carrot was no longer satisfying and there always seemed to be another one taunting me just ahead – waiting for me to reach it. I wondered when was enough enough. When was I going to feel satisfied?

During this phone call, my friend said that I’ve spent a lifetime of “doing,” and wondered if I would consider balancing it out with some time to simply “be.” 

I had no idea what she was talking about.

I asked her how did one go about “being.” How did one achieve that?

She laughed until she realized that I was serious – that I didn’t have a clue.

She said that being is our natural state. And getting back to it is simply a matter of taking away all of the action, movement, and distraction.

After I hung up, I started to wonder what my life would look like if I stopped doing so much and started being more. 

I decided that I needed to meditate – that was something that I could do that would definitely bring me back to a state of being. And so I tried.

It felt like torture – my thoughts were whirling around faster than I could keep up, and I felt like I was going to spin out of control if I didn’t get up and start taking action. But still I sat. And I waited for the timer to go off.

Check check. Meditation was done. What was next?

In my quest to achieve a perfect state of being, a few weeks later I tried to simply sit for 45 minutes without doing a single thing – not even meditating. I set the timer and waited. And waited. And waited. It felt like forever. I was extremely uncomfortable. I felt like I was missing out on life – like time was passing me by. As soon as the timer dinged, I immediately jumped up and wrote down pages and pages of thoughts that occurred during that time – creative ideas, writing prompts, to-do lists, etc.

I was so used to being in “go” mode that stopping felt extremely uncomfortable. It went against what had come to feel like my natural state.

It took years of continuing to try to “be” to be able to find peace with it. Years of feeling uncomfortable with it – of feeling like I should be doing something rather than simply sitting still or spacing out or being in the moment.

I’m so grateful that I kept at it though. While I still find myself feeling pulled to do more and achieve more and move faster, I now have found a groundedness and a connection to my soul that continues to lead me back to the present moment – that continues to make sure I feel whole in my being rather than in my need to do more.

I now see that to me “being” simply means slowing down enough to be able to be present. It means honoring exactly where we are and being okay with exactly who we are. It means that we give ourselves permission to come back to our core – our natural state. It means that we go beneath all of our achievements and all of our constant pushing and striving and find a deep sense of peace within ourselves.

That’s being.

And that’s pretty wonderful.

It’s my wish that we all find this. 

While I don’t spend all of my time in this space, I have experienced beautiful glimpses of it. And those glimpses are enough to help me stay conscious and aware and continue coming back for more.

We are human beings after all. And being is our natural state. 🙂

Hugs!

P.S. – The Soulful Life Sanctuary opens in less than 3 weeks! It’s going to be such a special space for all of us to go to slow down, reconnect with our soul, and connect with each other. I would love for you to join us! There are special discounts and bonus gifts this month, too! http://www.soulfullifesanctuary.com/