Are you familiar with that sentence? I'm sure you heard it before, and you probably used it when people asked: "How are you doing?" In the past few weeks, I explored this idea of busyness myself, and it happened with a funny story about being busy.
About a month ago, I had a conversation with a peer regarding not receiving a response to an email I sent out. One logical explanation was that people are probably too busy and forgot or didn't have time to respond. That day I commented a few times about how I probably should get busier like other people as I didn't seem busy enough noticing the missing response. This conversation got me thinking. How would I understand people's life challenges without living the same kind of life and seeing how mindfulness can help? It took less than 24-hours when I got a call from a previous colleague about a job. I couldn't believe this. Out of the blue, I got offered a position that would add additional responsibilities. I did ask for it, and after getting some insight on what that job entails, I accepted the position.
It wasn't an easy decision. I looked at all the different aspects of the work that I want to bring forward. I viewed my schedule and my involvements with Mindful Being and other people I closely work with, ensuring that I stayed true to myself. It took me a couple of days to examine the overall workload. After taking a few days to ponder over it, I kept reminding myself that this might have been the missing piece to better relate to the people I want to help.
It's been a week since I started with my training, and I enjoy every moment of it. During this time, I realized that what matters is how we relate to the things we do. Are we quick to say: "I am busy!"? And are we giving little attention to what the specifics are that make us busy? According to Merriam-Webster, one description of busy means: "engaged in action." Engaged also stands for capture, captivate, grab, absorb, and a few more. Like so many things in life, we don't even ask ourselves what we mean. It seems much easier just to say "I am busy" when we could say, "I am captivated by (work) that takes more time than anticipated," or "The work that I do grabs most of my attention." I agree, it takes extra time, but how does it feel? For me, it gives me a choice, and I am taking charge.
I learned from the "Big Leap" by Gay Hendricks that how we structure our days can be led by Newtonian Time or Einstein Time. Newtonian Time is the time directed by the clock, and Einstein Time is guided by our work. When our work captures us, we find much more enjoyment in doing them than if we say I have 30 minutes left to finish this task. I understand that there is also pressure by an outside source, our bosses and deadlines, on completing a task. Yet, we are executing the work so how we speak to ourselves and express it to others plays a huge role in how we relate to our work.
What it comes down to is our perspective on things. I could bring up parenting, relationships, chores, errands, anything that we do in life, and look at our words and how aware we are when speaking about our doings. What I learned with my new position and all the other endeavors I could say I am super busy because of my upcoming Spiritpreneurship Summit 2021, my book in the making, collaborations with Empowered Human in various engagements, upcoming workshop on "Are We Listening," and the bi-weekly meditations. What I want to say instead is that I am so excited and happy that I have the opportunity to be involved with so many amazing people and projects that I go to bed tired and yet super fulfilled and content on what the next day has to bring.
So here is my question to you, how and what in your life could you begin to adjust the way you look at and speak about it? What are your automated thoughts and comments that you could bring more attention to? Let me know in the comments below, or message me your exploration. I'd love to hear from you.