The Chinese word for busy is composed of two characters: heart and killing.
When you make yourself so busy that you feel pushed and pressured to get things done and over with, you are killing something that is vital within yourself.
Your compulsion toward speed and efficiency; you impatience and irritability smother that quiet wisdom of a mindful heart.
Has socialization forced you to become a machine instead of a person? Are you losing the capacity to appreciate the millions of quiet moments that offer you peace, beauty and joy ?
Don't let your frantic productivity squander the significant moments to enjoy your life and those who love you.
Ecclesiastes 4:6 says: "Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind."
Your frantic busyness is the way you may be avoiding what is primary in your life: kissing the moments you live.
Kiss Your Life... 365 Reasons to Love Who You Are
By: Ann Mody Lewis, Ph.D.
Reason: 219 Page: 237
Commentary:
You’re a go-getter!
She never sits down!
You just don’t stop!
You’re a selfless giver!
You just can’t relax!
Our culture admires, rewards, and praises the busy person. They are seen as healthy and worthwhile. Many parents orchestrate the busyness of their children thinking it will ward off the demons of their nature and make them a super achiever at the same time. Do you remember your parents saying, while you were playing on your Xbox; "Can’t you find something to do?" Activity has become so normative that taking a vacation is our only refuge from responsibilities. Yet, America has been dubbed the ‘Non-Vacation Nation.’
Tim Kreider writes in his New York Times article, “The Busy Trap’: “We’re busy because of our own ambitions or drive or anxiety…because we’re addicted to busyness and the dread of what we might have to face in its absence.” This writer implies that being busy could be an escape from a reality we don’t want to face. Americans spend most of their time working: 86% of men and 66% of women (not including their work at home) work more than 40 hours per week, that’s 137 more hours per year than the Japanese. We take an average of 13 paid vacation days per year.
Being constantly overworked and overwhelmed is more destructive than productive and here’s why:
- Our personal lives become disorganized. We misplace our keys, glasses, wallet or remote control.
- We’re less focused and usually less productive.
- We have a hard time prioritizing what’s important.
- We have poor coping styles. Small things infuriate us.
- We become overly concerned with wealth and prosperity.
- We feel tired a lot and have a vague sense of depression.
- Working too much isolates us from the people who are most important to us.
By making busyness the hallmark of your life, you are giving in to what is not important.
This month’s discussion will include these topics: What motivates men to over define themselves through their work? Why is the busyness of women so poorly viewed and poorly rewarded? When does being busy make sense? How does busyness isolate us? Why do parents worry about their children if they relax too much? Let’s get busy bringing this topic alive!
Let’s talk…
Ann
