When we’re lost in the story of what we think “busy” means we find ourselves in judgement of others or being judged. Frustration, upset, anger, suffering. When we see through it, we’re free to act from love.
I laughed yesterday at the synchronicity of life. I’d just finished recording another podcast episode* with Gary Bridgeman & Natalie Nuttall and went on a call with Andrew Smith.
Andrew told me he’d been working with a group in business recently about ‘the cult of busy’ and how they’d told him being busy was like a ‘badge of honour’. I burst out laughing! These words were literally the title of the just-recorded podcast. Word. For. Word!
Life is so cool like this when we’re in alignment with it, presenting exactly what we need when we need it. But I digress…this post isn’t a synchronicity one, awesome as that is.
Ask people in business today about how they’d feel if someone says ‘I’m not busy’ and the honest responses include that we look down on them, assume they’re a slacker or lazy or no use, next in line for the sack or redundancy.
What I learnt from Andrew was that not so long ago, in our grandparents’ day, someone saying they’re busy would have been seen as someone who’s disorganised or inefficient and not working optimally, a busy fool.
As the story changes our thoughts change and we experience the resulting emotions that those thoughts create. That’s how the system works. Always. Bringing our thoughts and resultant feelings to life as an experience in consciousness.
So what? Different thoughts create different feelings. What now?
What’s available to really see is that, although we might have a preference for today’s version, or our grandparents’ version of busy, neither of these stories is 100% categorically true.
Each individual person has the possibility of being – and will have been at some point – a busy fool, and organised, and productive, and lazy, and… Test it for yourself. See, honestly, the times you’ve been each of these.
The moment we conceptualise the imagined, untrue story into a solid, fixed, definite lump, we’re lost and confused. We start imagining we’re better or worse than others and this sits uncomfortably with who, deep down, we know we really are. And when in fact we know deep down that this body, here, has done all of the busy and lazy and productive options.
In that clarity and freedom our actions align with the moment being presented to us right now and we respond in a way that is perfect for it. We respond from love and compassion because that’s all that’s left when the stories drop away.
Love and compassion that has all the integrity, authenticity, courage and humanity we’ve ever been looking for. And so prioritising, planning, saying yes or no, agreeing deadlines or guidelines, setting boundaries or not, all happen with ease.
Test it and see.
With love, Helen
*This particular episode on The Cult of Busy was only on the podcast site and that’s no longer in action, but enjoy the content we also put on YouTube here.
I work with people who want a quieter mind and a more fulfilling life. They’re smart, passionate people who are curious about there being a better way. They’ve worked hard to get to here and yet something’s still missing: ‘is this it?’. In our work we explore and reconnect to innate brilliance so they rediscover a quieter mind, fulfillment and balance. Find out more here.