It’s interesting how active the mind is. No matter where you are, no matter how quiet the surroundings, the mind finds things to latch onto; it thinks and generates ideas (not always helpful ones).
As I write this, I am on Nevis, sitting on the front porch of a cottage that is surrounded by gorgeous plants and flowers and that looks at the ocean. It’s 80 degrees with a nice breeze. I am away from home--away from all typical responsibilities (e.g., work, errands, bill-paying, scheduling). And I am here for 5 weeks, so I can really let go.
Yet my mind is active. Active in some wonderful ways (creative ways, intellectual ways, spiritual ways) and in some not-so-helpful ways (judgmental ways, list-making ways, ruminating ways). The mind really is an interesting thing. I completely understand why Buddhist monks can sit in meditation for years at a time, simply observing the mind.
I appreciate this space to actually be present with my thoughts, emotions, and actions. To observe what goes on in the mind and to more clearly delineate thoughts that come from my authentic self and thoughts that come from my ego (doing/judgmental/fearful self).
I wish our society supported more space to be (rather than do). At a time when we’re so advanced technologically, it seems like we could work fewer hours at our jobs, allowing more free time. Yet it’s not only work that saps our “being” time. Our society encourages us to do and accomplish outside of work (e.g., volunteer, over-schedule, involve kids in multiple activities, have multiple hobbies, run many errands). We all feed into this cycle.
Even when someone takes a vacation, the most common first question seems to be, “What did you do while you were there?” And often, people take vacation as another opportunity to do—see more things, check more things off the vacation list, do all the local activities. Perhaps we are so trained to do all the time that even in our downtime, we let doing/ego-mind run the show. Even during vacation.
I can feel that pull while on Nevis. There’s plenty to “do” here (the testimonial book in our cottage is filled with suggestions about places to go and things to do and restaurants to eat at). What if we go home and we haven’t climbed the volcano or done mind-blowing snorkeling or visited all the museums or eaten all the local cuisine? That thought crossed my mind, but it definitely wasn’t a thought from authentic self (it’s all ego/doing-mind).
What did we do on vacation? We read, took mindful walks, watched the ocean, watched the stars, journaled, meditated, talked and listened to the locals, made our own food, exercised (okay, those of you who know me know I prioritize my daily exercise—is this doing-mind? perhaps sometimes), enjoyed each others’ company, swam in the ocean, occasionally hiked, wrote, napped (we did not watch TV, use a cell phone, drive a car, use the Internet). Most importantly, we allowed our authentic selves to run the show. What do we feel like doing today? Well, maybe just reading and napping. Maybe biking into town. Maybe just wait and see what we feel like moment by moment.
This doesn’t make us “good people.” It’s simply an observation that there are many ways to spend a vacation. And perhaps one of those ways is to simply “be”.
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