Why Busyness Is Actually Modern Laziness
De ce situația de a fi foarte ocupat este, de fapt, o trândăvie modernă— de Rasmus Hougaard și Jacqueline Carter
Dependența de acțiune este un fel de lene avansată. Ne ține ocupați cu sarcini. Cu cât suntem mai ocupați, cu atât evităm mai mult să ne confruntăm cu chestiuni de viață și de moarte. Pe măsură ce ne ocupăm de sarcini, importante sau nu, evităm să ne confruntăm cu viața. Menținem o distanță sigură și confortabilă față de problemele care uneori sunt greu de perceput. Am ales noi cariera potrivită? Suntem prezenți suficient cu copiii noștri? Viața noastră are sens?
Cu toată activitatea noastră credem că ne apropiem de ceva mai mare decât noi. S-ar putea să nu știm ce înseamnă, dar vom continua să lucrăm la ea. Este ca și cum am urca pe o scară cât mai repede posibil, sperând să ajungem la vârf. Și într-o zi ajungem acolo. Ajungem la vârf sub forma unei promoții la locul de muncă sau a unei case nou dobândite. Dar care este sensul de a ajunge în partea de sus a scării doar pentru a realiza că se sprijină pe peretele greșit?
Odată, Dalaï Lama venea în oraș. Peste zece mii de oameni se adunaseră pentu a-l întâlni. Peste cinci sute de voluntari, zeci de oameni de securitate și mase de jurnaliști trebuiau coordonați. Omul din spatele lui, Lakha, un om mic de statură și de aproape optzeci de ani și un foarte vechi prieten și coleg de studiu de-al lui Dalaï Lama. Când l-am întrebat: "Bună, Lakha, ești ocupat?" s-a întors, s-a uitat la mine calm și a spus: "Am o mulțime de activități, dar nu sunt ocupat." Prezența lui a vorbit mai tare decât cuvintele sale. Lakha supraveghea un proiect masiv, cu numeroase termene și detalii de gestionat. Au fost multe lucruri, dar nu l-au deranjat. El nu era ocupat.
În acea zi, mi-am dat seama că situația de a fi ocupat este o alegere personală. S-ar putea să avem termene, proiecte și activități, dar avem libertatea de a ne întâlni cu dependenții de acțiune și de cei ocupați sau leneși, sau doar să observăm experiența mai multor activități. Este o alegere. Și abilitatea de a face o alegere vine dintr-o minte clară, fără dependență de acțiune.
În zilele noastre, avem tendința de a fi mereu ocupați, suprasolicitați și, probabil, stresați. Face parte din identitatea noastră. Dacă suntem ocupați, suntem importanți. Dacă suntem stresați, este pentru că suntem angajați și muncim din greu. Este în ADN-ul societăților noastre moderne. Dacă nu suntem ocupați și stresați, nu încercăm destul de mult. Ceva nu e în neregulă cu noi. Dar Lakha a arătat o alternativă clară; având multe activități și fiind extrem de eficient și productiv, dar menținând claritatea mentală și calmul — fără a cade în dependența de acțiune. Fără a fi leneș existențial.
Semnificația întrebărilor pentru reflecție: Ce înseamnă să fii leneș existențial pentru tine? Puteți împărtăși un moment când ați devenit extrem de conștienți de acestă stare de lenevie? Ce te ajută să fii activ fără să fii ocupat?
Rasmus Hougaard este fondatorul Proiectului Potențial, Jacqueline Carter este autorul unui eveniment secundar. Extrasul de mai sus este dintr-un articol din revista Mindful.
Rasmus Hougaard is the founder of the Potential Project, Jacqueline Carter is the author of One Second Ahead. Excerpt above is from an article in Mindful magazine.
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: What does being existentially lazy mean to you? Can you share a personal experience of a time you became acutely aware of this laziness? What helps you be in activity without being "busy"?
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15 Past Reflections
On Feb 22, 2024 Diksha wrote :
"If we are busy, we are important - this statement is so relatable. I have found myself to embody this statement quite often recently. I would intentionally make up tasks to add to my to-do list in order to seem "busy". For some reason, multitasking has always been one of my strong suits - because now that I see, I felt "important" thinking that there as so much to do. However since the past few months of this self elf exploration journey, I have realize the imp. Of doing "nothing" and slowing down, to make time always for friends and family. Afterall balance in both of these realms is what will keeps the ship afloat. I hope to not add unnecessary talks to my to-do list and approach tasks without pushing them off.
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On Feb 21, 2024 Madhuri wrote :
Alters my thinking!! Wondering how consciousness of self seems to be a task to be avoided . Ofcourse it's easier to get into a lot of hard work then to sit with our own pain and grief and why would we not choose easy? Except when we are ready to liberate ourselves from the fear of pain!
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On Feb 20, 2024 Monica Castillo wrote :
Exitentially lazy means to me , I have not choosen to take the time to pause, and reflect before acting.
When I have been lazy in this matter I have taken enough time to pause, reflect and switch gears to be present to family when I was working. I prioritized busy no value added reports over the human spirits that are part of my heart. Being grounded and intentional in what I am doing helps me be active and not busy. When I am in this intentional space my work, my conversatons and cooking are so rich!
When I have been lazy in this matter I have taken enough time to pause, reflect and switch gears to be present to family when I was working. I prioritized busy no value added reports over the human spirits that are part of my heart. Being grounded and intentional in what I am doing helps me be active and not busy. When I am in this intentional space my work, my conversatons and cooking are so rich!
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On Mar 26, 2023 Michael Maxwell Steer wrote :
I wouldn’t call it laziness. I would call it anxiety – that has to be averted by being active :: in an attempt to convince myself that my life has value/meaning, when I'm afraid of the emptiness within. I guess busyness is my version of other people's muzak.
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On May 31, 2019 jerard lizares wrote :
lazy on a way we tend to avoid some comfrontation in our lifelife, be it intentionally or not. Before , I used to drown myself just working and it consume so much of my time, believing that it fullfills me in the hope of promising career path.
​​Having the though ,on the contrary, it will cover the other side of me, like having a gap with my family, but i was wrong.
​​​​​Having a clear mind will help you to balance among of the aspects of you life.
​​Having the though ,on the contrary, it will cover the other side of me, like having a gap with my family, but i was wrong.
​​​​​Having a clear mind will help you to balance among of the aspects of you life.
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On Apr 5, 2019 steve wrote :
What a person wants to accomplish in life must have a starting point, however, when comes to business finance is vital . If I can realize my dreams without it, show me the way
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On Mar 22, 2019 Rajul Shah wrote :
Being existentially lazy to me means not being aware of the core values of one's life, of being like on a treadmill, running but not reaching anywhere. I was made to acutely aware of this laziness when my life and my family' life were shaken up by illness and death in family. It was a 'wake up' call. Daily introspection at the end of the day asking oneself what am i doing? why am i doing? did it affect any of my core values? helps me personally with this awareness. Being in activity without being 'busy' to me , means being aware of what is the purpose of one's life? Also, keeping Death in awareness, realizing the limited life span one has, helps me to be in awareness and thus in activity without being 'busy'.
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On Mar 20, 2019 Quacinda wrote :
Seed questions for reflection:
1.) What does being existentially lazy mean to you?
To me it means that:
• I have beenunaware of my own domestication - how I was trained to be and to behave.
•It means I am caught up in dysfunctional drama.
• it means I am living by lies instead of truth.
2.)Can you share a personal experience of a time you became acutely aware of this laziness?
Long story short.. when I realized I put-up with crap because I was raised to accept others being dominate and powerful over me. I was taught to give-in, to 'turn the other cheek' accepting and even going beyond acceptance by offering the abuser 'to do it again', all in the name of God [and in this way making a sacrificeof sorts - becoming a martyr, suffering for others and believing God has a reward for me in the endfor God.
I didn't realize I could say no to abuse and walk away from it. And I didn't have to stay in an abusiverelationship in order to live right.
Ibecam... [View Full Comment]
1 reply: Aj | Post Your Reply
On Mar 19, 2019 David Doane wrote :
Existentially lazy means avoiding the most important questions in life, for example: Who am I? What am I doing with my life? What contribution am I making to life? How is my relatedness with others? I became acutely aware of this laziness when I became aware that doing and busyness can be ways to avoid being, and it is being that is most important. Hougaard and Carter's line from Joseph Campbell about climbing the ladder of success only to find out the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall is a way of saying that our striving in busyness may be taking us away from being rather than toward being. When I am in activity without being busy, what helps me is having a sense of being in the world of busyness while not being of it, abiding in awareness of the ocean of eternal Being that we are all part of while I am simultaneously busy with some surface flotations that come and go. When I am in activity being without being busy, I enjoy what Buddhism refers to as equanimity.
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On Mar 19, 2019 Office.com/setup | www.office.com/setup - office setup wrote :
Listed on office setup are the steps in the installation of this software and other things that need to be done by going to office.com/setup and follow the on-screen instructions:
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On Mar 17, 2019 Xiaoshan wrote :
Wise words, "Keeping ourselves busy so we do not have to face life." Keeping myself busy is easy. Facing life is not only hard but scary. So if I choose busyness, which I do often, is because it is easy. It kicks the can down the street so I do not have to do hard work and confront my fear, until perhaps when I am too old to stay busy or I am so ill and have to face my death. Not sure what could be done or thought of at that moment, except regrets and prayers for another chance of life.
The world around me is doing everything it can, to push me staying busy and 'engaged'. Competition of all sorts, job security, peer pressure, 140 TV channels, Clash Of Clans, deteriorating backyard, emails, FaceBook,and Twitter, are only a few among the countless distractions. I am in such a rush to go somewhere, or nowhere. This is, what being existentially lazy means to me.
The world around me is doing everything it can, to push me staying busy and 'engaged'. Competition of all sorts, job security, peer pressure, 140 TV channels, Clash Of Clans, deteriorating backyard, emails, FaceBook,and Twitter, are only a few among the countless distractions. I am in such a rush to go somewhere, or nowhere. This is, what being existentially lazy means to me.
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On Mar 15, 2019 Kristin Pedemonti wrote :
Thank you for this timely reminder! Being existentially lazy to me means giving oneself the time to reflect, the quiet to contemplate and the space to simply be. What helps me be in activity without being "busy" is to be in it mindfully and to focus on one task at a time. This is something I honestly work on weekly because I have had the tendency (especially when I lived in Washington DC) to get really caught up in busy. Now that I am in a more quiet space (literally) I find that it is easier to focus in on one thing at a time, to actually take weekends off and NOT fill the time with tasks or mindless activities.
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On Mar 15, 2019 Jagdish P Dave wrote :
To me being existentially lazy means being mindfully aware of the actions I do in my everyday life. This kind of awarenesshelps me to make wise choices."The ability to make that choice comes from my developing a clear mind, free of action addiction.", as the authors RasmusHouggardand Jacqueline Carter state in this article.
I became clearly awareof this laziness on one nice day when was walking barefooted and fell down and got hurt. This experience made me realize how much my mind was busy, driven by action addiction. I learned a lesson of being existentially lazy, of being mindfullyawareof the choices I make in my everydaylife. I am appreciating the valueof a a couple of a few wise sayings. Easy does it...Hasten slowly... Know when non-doing is better than doing... A wise person knows what to do and not do, when to do and when not to do.
As I am growing up I have been learning many lessons mostly from me. One has been like a mantra. Take 5 deep, slow and gentle breaths bef... [View Full Comment]