In Chinese, I find it fascinating that the word for “busy” combines the radical for “heart” and the character for “to die” or “to be lost or gone.” I have to think there was some sort of intent to teach a lesson here when long, long ago the Chinese language was beginning to come together. The lesson I learn from this ancient wisdom is that if you become too busy in life, you’re literally letting your heart die–your heart becomes lost, absent to the world and yourself. Literally!
This might sound bold, but think back during the times when you found yourself most busy, bogged down with the weight of external stress and pressures from work assignments (that very well might be the present moment). During the times when you’re most busy, how is your heart doing? How is it beating and feeling the needs of others? Is it full of love? Is it reminding you to serve? Probably not so much. Moreover, during our most busy times it’s also easy to forget to take time for ourselves, to study good books for the heart and soul, and to think spiritually. What’s ironic is that when we’re busy, not only do we not make time for others, but we don’t even make time for our own personal growth and development. When we’re too busy, we often don’t stop to smell the roses. We become blinded. We don’t stop to care.
Now, don’t get me wrong…busy, if combined with caution and the right mindset, can also be a good thing. It’s good to be active and proactive in life–consistently pushing forth in living our dreams and caring for those we love with a sense of urgency. But how can we gauge if we have crossed the line of being too busy? Ask yourself if love is in all our busy work. If it is, you’re probably doing fine. If love is central in our lives, no matter how much work or extracurricular stuff we’re involved in, we’re always going to focused on what matters most.
There is no need to go on in to great detail when the concept of “busy” is most likely very simple to each of us. For the sake of brevity, may we simply remember to cultivate our hearts–remembering that the purpose of life goes far beyond being busy and making a buck or two; but rather, our purpose should be to love, to enjoy, and to find opportunities to benefit the human race.
Don’t lose your heart in life.
Above photo accredited to ScorpionEntity
