Photo by Jason Pratt
“What country, friends, is this?”
– Olivia in Shakepseare’s Twelfth Night
A person is a person. A person is also a place.
In our doing-focused culture, we tend to define ourselves by what we do when we are in motion: what we accomplish, what we cross off the list, where we go.
But what really matters most to the people around us is who we are when we are still. When we are still, at the dinner table. When we are still, listening to them. When we are still, speaking words back to them. When we stand beside them on a long walk.
When you are a place, a space, that other human beings come into, what kind of place are you?
What kind of place are you for others to spend time in?
When people spend time there, what do they experience?
What are they offered?
What are they wounded by?
How does time spent in the place of you leave them feeling after they’ve gone?
Love, Tara
p.s. in Friday’s post, I included a faulty link. Thanks Gail and Dad for pointing it out! Here’s the correct link to my post on How to Get Out of Your Business Comfort Zone at Productive Flourishing.
Tara Sophia Mohr is a writer, coach and the creator of Wise Living. Click here to subscribe to Tara’s articles about Wise Living.
So true , Tara. I just made a resolve, that no matter what I do, or where I am, or who I am talking to , I will give them my all. Just give, without worrying about what I will get in return, or what they think of me, etc etc. ..Your post is a synchronicity in that direction. Thank u.
Beautiful. And love those synchronicities! Thank you for sharing.
In 2007 I decided to focus on Just Being. I sold everything, gave up a rewarding career and moved from Canada to the very small Island of Roatan, off the coast of Honduras, in the Caribbean Sea. When I return to Canada to visit family and friends I am quickly reminded that my status as a human being in Canada is determined by; what I DO. http://roatanvortex.com/2010/09/29/just-being/ It’s quite sad actually, because even at a young age children are asked, “What are you going to do?” Just Being, gets dismissed.