Henry David Thoreau wrote:

It is not enough to be industrious.
So are the ants.
The question is, what are you being industrious about?

 
With what do you fill your time? I mean, if you were to look at your life and what you do, what do you spend your time actually doing?

I’m not interested in what you say you do, but what you actually do.

Do you spend your time a web zombie?
Do you fill your time with annoyed?
Do you spend your time working?

It’s not enough to be busy. Ants are busy. The question is what are we busy about?

I make myself too busy, quite often. I admit it. I often bring work on everywhere I go. (I do enjoy my work.) But I also need to be more and do less, and I hereby commit to being more and doing less. Being more spacious.

I have made a commitment to no longer be online when I am on line. That is, I don’t use my phone when I am in a queue waiting. Why? Because while it is so tempting to check out while checking out, life is all around me, waiting to be noticed. And, so, I make myself be vulnerable enough to engage with others.

There is a wonderful, beautiful song by Art Garfunkel, Buddy Mondlock, and Maia Sharp called Everything Waits to Be Noticed.

How true, if you see it.

It’s a bit scary to not busy ourselves.
Life is not as predictable as my to-do list or my go-to list of anxieties.

And life is more fun.

I have had two very interesting conversations recently that I would have missed out on if I had been focused on being busy. I have found that many people are wanting to – dare I say longing to – connect. The same is true for me. (Of course, there have been many people who have made it clear that they didn’t want to connect.) But I would not have had the great experience of connecting for these two conversations if I hadn’t attempted the connections.

Alan Watts, a brilliant man, talks about the deficiency of sex with blow-up dolls. The problem, he explains, is that you know exactly what is going to happen, and there is nothing fun about that. Watts explains that fun can be found in the unexpected.

If you and I are always filling our time with things to do, the unexpected will not happen. This is true whether I am looking at Facebook, checking how many people have liked my post, or editing podcasts and articles.

Let’s stop. Start the revolution and stop.

The poet Mary Oliver puts it this way:

Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.

Visit Rabbi Brian’s website here: Religion Outside the Box