Stop Striving! The Wonder of Being

6 of 45 Moments of Wonder

I am a striver. Striving is what I do. Doing makes me feel useful in the world. I don’t know how many of my sentences begin with “When I…Then I…

I am curious about how often our striving leads to dissatisfaction. What if we could just be? Right now. Right where we are? The last time I was out for dinner with my best friend Stephanie (have I mentioned she is #wisdom) she asked me if I was still practicing yoga regularly. I have not been, mostly because my knee pain keeps me from wanting to go out, even though it would likely be really good for me. My answer to that is to practice at home. “When I finish my basement, then I will have a quiet place to practice.” She stopped me.

“Stop striving. What can you do now?“

She is right. Stop striving. Could I stop striving for the next thing and just focus on being, right now? How can I be a practitioner right now? How can I feel happy right now? What if I could just be instead of striving to do?

The wonder of being is that we can all be. We don’t have to do anything to be worthy of love and belonging, except to simply be. I don’t have to do anything to be loved except to allow myself to be loved. We don’t have to do anything to be enough. We just are.

Where else am I striving? Am I striving for perfection when I really just need to be present? Am I striving to be the best parent when I really just need to be the mama my kids need – the one who is here and who loves them? Am I striving to be known when I really just need to be available to the ones who know and love me?

As I write this, I feel an overwhelming need to simply breathe, to focus on just breathing and being. Being alive. Being myself. Being human.

Where do you strive? Is there anything you could let go of striving for to try simply being? I wonder if you would share those thoughts in the comments or on my Social Media? Let’s start a conversation.