Are You Being Too Busy?

One of the biggest problems of our times is being too busy.  A common answer to the question ‘How are you?’ is ‘I am busy’.  Not only it seems to have been engraved in our language it is perceived as cool too.

The Cost Of Being Too Busy

When you are too busy you are lost in your busyness.  You do not spend time to really reflect about what really matters to you at any moment.  This has consequences you undoubtedly pay for.

• Not being aware of what makes you feel alive means your life is not aligned with your values. While your life passes without awareness you continue hiding away behind the curtain of busyness.
• There is no real time to enjoy life.
• Your children grow up without significant happy memories of being with you.
• Over time the stress of not living the joyful life one is destined for (as a possibility) creates cruel illnesses that can linger and fester into old age.
• There is no time to make human contact with anyone, including yourself; no time to explore other possibilities.

How To Stop Being Too Busy

The truth is that there is an increasing demand on our time, more things to seduce our interest. We feel we ought to be doing more and being less.  An increasing pressure to do more and more than the time allocated has become normal, especially with the advent of smartphones.

It all can, and often does get overwhelming.

Knowing this fact allows you to identify the most meaningful choices for you upon which to focus your energy.  Doing it then becomes the challenge.  Of course part of you will want to do the other things you are attracted to!  Really, unless you leave those attractive possibilities to a future time you end up running around like a headless chicken.

The meaningfulness of life does not increase by the number of meaningful things you do but by the quality with which you do them.

Here are some ideas about how to overcome the ‘being too busy’ bug in your life:

• Always remember being busy is a choice.
• Eliminating using the word ‘busy’ from your daily language
• Realise that busyness is a problem, nothing to be proud of
• Prioritise.  We are back to being able to say no!
• Make choices by letting go of the things less important even if you would like them
• Set time aside for what is really important
• Delegate
• Create systems to get things done
• Shorten your to do list to three most important items

Being too busy is a dangerous way of being. We need to eliminate this habit from our lives. Instead of a state of business we need to adapt in order to become successful like our Western culture promotes, yet fails to deliver.

Here is a wonderful poem that reaches straight to our hearts, an invitation to shed our busy armors:

Red Brocade

by Naomi Shihab Nye, 1952

The Arabs used to say,
When a stranger appears at your door,
feed him for three days
before asking who he is,
where he’s come from,
where he’s headed.
That way, he’ll have strength
enough to answer.
Or, by then you’ll be
such good friends
you don’t care.

Let’s go back to that.
Rice? Pine nuts?
Here, take the red brocade pillow.
My child will serve water
to your horse.

No, I was not busy when you came!
I was not preparing to be busy.
That’s the armour everyone put on
to pretend they had a purpose
in the world.

I refuse to be claimed.
Your plate is waiting.
We will snip fresh mint
into your tea.

You can listen to the soundtrack of this video from here.