I’m not here. I’m on my way to there. Where might there be? Not sure but I’d like to move through the here as I am imagining that there is much better. More fun. More…there. Must I travel through the here to get there? And when I get there will I find that there isn’t there anymore because then I’ll be here and find that there has shifted to another location?

What exactly is the question? I’m not sure about that but I believe the answer is…Be where you are in the process. However, finding the elusive ‘be here now’ can sometimes feel like you are neither here nor there. Why do we find it so difficult to be where we are? Does it stem from the deep-seeded fear that, as Peggy Lee so eloquently questioned in song, “Is that all there is?”

We are a society of movers and shakers. We are doers. We love a good over-worked, over-scheduled, over-wrought achiever. We wear our busyness like a badge of honor.  We worship at the shrine of the busier we are, the more important we are. And the more important we are, the more valuable we are. And if I don’t have time for rest and relaxation, then I must really be doing something of tremendous worth.

But busy can keep us from really looking at what we are about. It can serve to divert us from finding our true calling. Busy can be our best friend on the road to never realizing our true potential. Busy can become so noisy that we can’t hear the still small voice that longs to be our true companion. The voice that is looking out for our best interests.   The voice that will drown in the ocean of ‘if I only had time!’

Because if I’m not constantly doing something that I can describe in my life elevator speech…you know, that thirty second explanation of my reason for being…then I have trouble justifying my existence. Our society doesn’t look kindly on:

“I’m in transition, waiting to see what is next for me.”
“Yes, but what are you doing?”
“I’m not doing anything. I’m being.”
And cut to someone else who is doing something.

If only we understood that ‘being’ is ‘doing’ something. Being is one of the most valuable things that one can do on the way to there. Being is the state that leads us to some of our ultimate doing. Being is what allows us to be where we are…here and now. And when we are totally present, showing up completely to participate fully in our lives, we will find that our being is quite enough to lead us to the there of our here and now.

Being fully present allows us to understand that when we get there, our there will have changed. Being fully present helps us adjust to that ever changing there. It allows us to surrender our expectations to the divinity of our circumstance allowing us to rejoice in the here and now knowing that our there is ever shifting.  And before you know it, Peggy Lee’s lyric query is a distant memory. An outdated commentary on unfounded fears that threaten to keep us from a life fully lived. A life where at any given moment, we may discover that we here and there all at the same time.