More on Being
As I looked at the title I gave this post, my mind immediately read it as “Moron Being”. Hah! It WILL call me names. I almost changed the title, but realized it would entertain me more the way it was! 😉 I’ll discuss those charming little mind games we play on ourselves in a little while.
My last post was on the qualities I wish to embrace as I go forth into my week. It’s important to choose the qualities one wants, I believe. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about being “crabby”, or “impatient” or “anti-social”. I seem to be able to embody those quite well without conscious intervention 😀 If I’d rather replace those, or at least diminish their prominence, I’ve found that making lists such as I discussed, does wonders.
These words are the result of my thinking about a great comment on the previous post, made by ellaella. I responded to her that I hadn’t thought about the interconnectedness of the qualities of “being” I mentioned there. Once I did think, it came out rather longer than I would have predicted. So thank you, ella, for encouraging yet another post! I owe you a coffee and chocolate. 🙂 A disclaimer: Neither ella, nor anyone else should take this as me “lecturing” them. I only ever lecture myself. (And there are times I sure wish I’d stop!) 😉 But ella HAS stimulated further reflection on my part, the results of which are spewed out upon this post.
Being>Having>and Doing are all points on the triangularity of how we experience life. The “being” one is just that—being. It’s challenging to not think of all the things “to do” once we have our being list in place. In fact, I think it’s a good exercise just to let those go. I’ve even said to myself “You will “do” NOTHING this week!” 😉 (Of course, that’s impossible.) There really are no goals associated with this being-ness exercise. I’m just acknowledging qualities I already have, because we all do. I pick and choose the ones I like; that I feel I want to exhibit more in my life. Until ella asked, I didn’t think about the inter-connectivity amongst them. So here are my thoughts about that now.
What I do think is that if I were a person with all the qualities I listed, you would begin to recognize me by those qualities. Each of us would have our own unique lists. As the weeks go by—and I’m going to experiment with this—I believe that the more I declare my preferred mental states, and refine my lists each week, the more I’ll step into the kind of person I really want to be (and on some level always was). We get so distracted with the daily minutiae of our lives that we often forget “who we are”. A quality ella and I share is a desire to be “rested”. All I do with that one is sit quietly for a few moments, and say to my self: “Ah… rested.” “Rested” is a nice, restful sort of word, isn’t it? 😉 If I don’t, at that moment, feel quite rested, then I can speculate (perfectly OK!) “Wouldn’t it be nice to be rested? Wouldn’t it feel great to embrace the day knowing I’ve had all the sleep I need?”
Now, my mind will chime in with things like: “OK, so I have to start going to bed at 8:30, and stop drinking coffee, and stop having stress, and win the lottery so I can quit my job which is causing stress, and remove certain personality characteristics from my partner…” 😉 Well. We can each make our own mind-lists, too. And the mind is very good at it, and will tell you everything that’s wrong with you, and what you need to do about it—completely uninvited. When that happens to me, and it does, like, a hundred times a day; if I remember to, I’ll say: “Funny little mind, you! Playing your games. Thank you for wanting to keep me safe, and busy, and feeling useful. Now go away for a while, and I’ll take it from here.” A “mind game”, naturally! 😛 But it seems to work.
What I most emphatically will NOT do at the end of this week is ask myself: “OK, on a scale of 1 – 10, how rested (peaceful; musical; helpful) were you?” The answer, even if there were one, doesn’t matter at all. All that does matter is that I seek the qualities that give value and meaning to who I am in the world. There are some forms of Buddhist and Vedic meditation which teach us to hold certain qualities in thought, such as “beauty” or “truth” or “compassion”. These lists that I make are my way of personalizing such practices to fit my own joy. 😀
MusEditions 
It seems to me that what you propose to do is auto-suggestion or ‘self-hypnotism’ which others call affirmation or chanting. And which I practice too.
I stumble a lot of posts like these by gurus but I’m surprised that YOU’re the one who conveys it the simplest! No dogmas so its effective.
Or maybe you really are a guru Muse?
pochp
April 2, 2009
Yep, she’s a Guru all right! 😀
Will Rhodes
April 2, 2009
Pochp is spot on. That is what separates you from the rest. I get so overwhelmed by reading things. It just seems too much or so detailed.
Muse, you put it in terms that I can do. Quick, simple steps that I can take in. Guru is right!
I can “get” what your are talking about right away instead of 10 pages later. I know people that write books have to fill the pages…but then that is exactly what they end up with…book filler. They can’t get right to the point and make it easy…there are pages that need to be printed on.
Anyway, to get to my point…hehehehe…Thank you.
thebeadden
April 2, 2009
Will and Bead- thanks for confirming 🙂
pochp
April 2, 2009
pochp is correct: This reminds me a lot of the “auto-suggestion” technique found in, say, Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, which has influenced me a ton (though, I don’t desire to be rich; his principles can be applied to attaining any definite goal).
I guess where my philosophy and your philosophy reach an impasse, Muse, is where action comes in. You say you’d like to exhibit qualities, whereas I say that, in order to exhibit said qualities, you must make an action. You seek to repress the mind’s suggestions in order to achieve the desired qualities, whereas I say that the mind’s just being a good planner when it does that.
Or maybe, just maybe, I subconsciously choose to make my default state of mind “productive”, which is why I’m always taking all this action!
leapsecond
April 2, 2009
Have to say, I don’t tend to read philosophy, and I never came across any concept like this before I encountered your blog, but I think it makes a lot of sense. And if you decide to be something, it only follows that you will exhibit the quality you decided to be.
I do think that if a person consciously attempts to do nothing, most would find it’s all too easy, however.
B0bbyG
April 3, 2009
I sort of feel as if I should come slinking in the back door under cover of night. 🙂
Your ending brings to mind a favorite quote (Keats): Beauty is truth, truth beauty. That is all you know on earth and all you need to know.”
ellaella
April 3, 2009
Second pochp and Will – Guru Muse it is 🙂
I like “Moron” Being! lol!!! Nikhil and I were talking about titles to posts yesterday and he was saying titles should just come to you! If it leaves the reader curious enough to read on and leave a smile, you hit jackpot 😀 So, there you hit one 😉
Apar
April 3, 2009
oh if I agree with 2 people before me, does it mean I third them or just plain agree with them? After seeing the comment I realised that I second two people looked ridiculous 😀
Apar
April 3, 2009
Thanks, poch, you are thoughtful! It’s interesting, I did a lot of research into hypnosis at one point. I think it’s a great technique (or techniques, as there are many different kinds) but it tended to confuse me, as it’s so…methodical. My brain rebelled. Affirmative practices are great, and I have used them, too. I find they work best when I put a lot of emotion into them, such as imagining why I desire something, and how it will be to have it. Thank you for the compliment! 🙂 I just like to share a bit o’ me journey, as it were. I wouldn’t want to be a guru if it meant I had to be dogamatic! 😉
Yo, Will—you talkin’ to poch? I’m in the room; I can HEAR you!!! 😀 Thanks, man. You flatter me. 😀
Oh my goodness, BD! You GUYS; this is going to go to my head, and that’s not very guru-like! 😉 Seriously, you don’t know how much I appreciate that feedback. I never thought of all those books I’ve read being at least partially filled with, well, filler! Of course! If books are too skinny, they won’t sell. Viva la Blog! If my musings can be a little bit helpful, I’m honored. 🙂
poch, again. Gee, am I going to have to start a fan club? I’m kind of embarrassed! 😳 (In a good way.) Thank you, very much.
Oh yes, I’ve read Hill, leap. I think he wrote in a very clear and understandable style about universal principles that work for many of us. 🙂 Well, that’s why there is such a smorgasbord of belief systems to choose from! 😉 I found your last paragraph particularly intriguing.
museditions
April 3, 2009
Well, you are most kind to read my blog and entertain my brainspouts, B0bby! I appreciate that you say they make sense, because this kind of thinking seems overly magical to some, just practical to me. 🙂 Perhaps doing nothing would seem all too easy; I wouldn’t dispute that. I’ll just ask you two questions: 1) Would that necessarily be a bad thing? and 2) Quite easy at first, yes, but how long could one keep it up before taking action, out of boredom if nothing else? —My record is 2 1/2 days. So far. 😀
No slinking, ella, when YOU are so inspirational! Thanks for coming by to see the fuss I made aboutcha! 😉 Oh, I LOVE that quote from Keats. I’m assembling a page of favorite quotes; I am SO going to include that one. Thank you!
Thank you, Apar! That is such a nice thing to say! 🙂 I sometimes think I have a strange sense of humor, so I’m glad you share it. —Oh, wait—did I just insult you? Nah, it’s a compliment, honestly! 😛 I think Nikhil is wise, and I’m glad you liked this one. 😉
In my opinion—which I’m just making up now—if two people speak at exactly the same time, then you can second them. I looked back at the comments, and found that poch and Will were four hours apart. So, I guess you’ll have to third them! You made me laugh with that one, Apar. 😀
museditions
April 4, 2009
I am not just saying it, Muse. I really take a lot of what you say and try to implement it. Even if it is in my own way. Even though I was raised with all this info, and know all about it, it was in a very strict environment. Where everything you did, had to charted out and decided if it was a good day to do that. Kind of like being ruled. I think you know who I am talking about. I still love and respect that person, but it is just too much…
it is always that way or the highway. And I start to feel confined and less responsive because it feels more like jail. Then I start running away from it. You got me back to it in a way where I still feel free to be myself.
What I get from you is the freedom to take what I want and use it it the way it works for me.
You aren’t barking at me when I fail to always be one way or the other.
thebeadden
April 4, 2009
I know you aren’t, BD, and I really, really appreciate that. It’s terrific that you take things you read and make them your own. It just makes so much sense to me to personalize philosophy, or religious practice, or anything like that. It’s amazing what can be dogmatized. In fact, I feel an upcoming post coming on…thank you! 😀
museditions
April 9, 2009
You are very interesting the way you write and I like the way of your imaginations. Good blog!
Perfectionist Gal
April 10, 2009
Thank you for the compliment, Perfectionist Gal. I appreciate it!
museditions
April 16, 2009