All our life we try to be perfect – for others and for ourselves. We choose this victimization of idealism in our childhood thanks to being surrounded by others who have done the same, as part of the emulation we are born to do. And then one fine day, we find ourselves looking for an identity we never established or grew into before.
It’s a pattern with every human being. And whether your wake up call has come thanks to a broken relationship, losing a job, losing people who mattered most to you or an accident that left you gasping for your existence, you are not alone:
Welcome to planet Earth, where every soul is looking for an identity that will eventually lead you to the cliche called Love as your predominant existence – beyond the feeling, beyond the passion, beyond the expectations and beyond the routine – like the space between atoms and molecules.
While you are on this path, you will understand that most of us are trying to make diamonds out of ourselves, by inviting through our natural power of intention, the toughest circumstances that will shape us into tough, shiny facets…jaded at the edges at times and falling back full circle onto the smoothness of a facet again.Chipping away at our imperfections we continue to shine more and more, becoming perfect and ‘special’.
But have you considered for a moment that you could be all gentle and shiny, without bristling with the spikes of emotion that make you ‘special’? Like a pearl? Can you visualize inviting peace into your most daunting situation by easing into the lesson that that incident is trying to teach you?
A pearl is common and ordinary with a beauty charming nonetheless, for it is after all, a labour of love…quite literally!
Over the past few days I’ve realised that being gifted pearls once upon a time had made me so happy even while I was trying to be the tough diamante like everyone else around me. And yet, funnily enough, I’ve never heard of pearls breaking, but heard ample about the techniques of ‘breaking’ diamonds! I wonder now, if people had their perspectives right…
Today I have begun living my life as a pearl; being a Love-Child and gliding effortlessly across life, by just Being. I have started trusting life now – it always takes care of my needs and everyone else’s, thereby reminding me that we are ultimately human Be-ings and not human Do-ings. The Secret of life, dear reader, is this…to just BE. Celebrate your existence!
very very nice…
i dont want to write a big comment here as it is still small in front of the unlimited wisdom this article gives!!
Thank you Aditya! ๐
Hi Deepti,
Loved every word u wrote here..but still have to ask u this..can u honestly say that we dont need to ‘DO’ in our lives,we just need to ‘BE’?I mean i have tried living this this way ,but not doing tends to turn u into a pumpkin and makes u rusty.What is the middle path to BEing more,DOing less,yet fulfilling our daily duties towards self and family?Is there a way?
Hi Manjiree,
I used to think the exact same thing until I came across this extract by Sri Aurobindo: http://myeternalconsciousness.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/the-mother/
This article clarified for me what “being” or being in a surrender state actually means. The being state is actually more intense and more active than “doing”. It is about focussing on your intention behind the action and being 100% involved in whatever you are doing.
To give you a simple example, when we cook, how often are we thinking of what we have to do next while cutting vegetables, or how well we are supposed to cut, etc. Instead, when you put your full involvement in seeing every layer coming apart, the colors changing of the vegetable, its fragrance on your fingers, we are being. You are the cutting, you are the doing itself. When you merge with the doing, you emerge being. ๐ That is how I have been seeing “being” as!
Love & Gratitude,
Deepti G Gujar
Hey Manjiree,
Thought of answering this better…and thank you so much for participating in these realisations… ๐
The “doing” I have experienced is very effortless…so much that it feels like non-doing…which is being. Words complicate. It is like how you would feel as a child when you see that the swing in the park just got empty…you rush at it, running towards it…waiting to sit on it and fly…at that time you don’t see that the grass is pricking your feet, that you were feeling cold a few minutes back, that your stomach was growling a little bit…all you know is the swing and the joy of swinging…that is what I mean by effortless doing…or being. ๐ Hope it is clearer. Love.